(Snowbird) wrote
Apples and oranges to the point I'm trying to make.

Not really. Not unless your point is that "George" remains idle 99.9%
of the time spent in IMC, and is only engaged on an emergency basis.

Instrument skills are a "lose 'em or use 'em" proposition,
there's no question. Someone who relies on George will
lose the ability to do routine things like:

Like dealing with routine IFR issues on his own?

All time is not created equal. You may spend two hours droning along
in stratus over the midwest, going direct to destination. That's two
hours of actual. Is it as much experience as an hour in and out of
bumpy cumulus with multiple reroutes? Well, that depends. If you
hand-fly it, then no - the hour hand-flying in bumps while copying,
reading back, verifying, and setting up radios for the new clearances
is a lot more experience, even though it's only half as much time and
a quarter of the actual. But not if you have "George" holding heading
and altitude for you.

My main objection to letting "George" do it is this - most of us are
just not getting that much actual experience. We need that experience
to develop our skills - the hood is not the same. It's silly to give
that experience away to a gadget.

But if the contention is no competent, IMC proficient pilot
ought to need an autopilot, my point is that when the autopilot
comes in really handy is when things aren't routine. When you're
flying outside familiar territory and are handed a major (or
maybe the 2nd or 3rd major) rerouting from ATC and you not
only need to process the route, you need to reassess the wx
and fuel pictures completely, esp. single pilot.

I guess I look at it differently. I consider what you're describing
routine. Major reroutes are a way of life when flying busy airspace -
I don't think I've ever made the Houston-New York run (which I've made
many times) without multiple major reroutes. I also don't recall ever
making that run without encountering significant weather. In fact,
the whole point of an instrument rating is going places. Unless
you've already seen it all, some of those places are going to be
unfamiliar.

God himself would do better handing the plane-handling
over to George for a bit and freeing up some extra brain
cycles to 'get the picture'.

In theory, there's no way to argue with that. It must take SOME
effort to fly the plane, and there is SOME limit to pilot capability.
In reality, I find that the cycles necessary to keep the plane upright
are minimal, and also that I'm not at my cycle limit flying IFR.

Further, I would argue that anyone who IS at task saturation flying
IFR is doing something very, very dangerous. After all, if it's
taking all you've got just to deal with the situation as it is
(aircraft control, ATC, navigation, weather) to the point that if you
don't have "George" fly while dealing with a reroute, you risk losing
the big picture, then what happens when you have a minor emergency?
Seriously? What happens when you're climbing out, night/IMC, being
rerouted - and your AI tumbles? What happens when you lift off, get a
positive rate, cycle the gear up, and as you're entering the soup the
lights dim and you smell smoke?

Michael