single pilot ifr trip tonight

My opinion is that an autopilot is one of the most important items of safety
equipment for single-pilot IFR. It frees a lot of brain cells for important
tasks like situational awareness and, in VMC, looking for traffic. My CFII
fully agreed with that and recommended liberal use of the autopilot for
single-pilot IFR. And before the flames start, I'm fully aware of the need
to be proficient in flying IFR without the A/P.

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
David Megginson ) wrote:

The poster also mentioned flying with an autopilot, though it fell out
of the followups. That makes a lot more sense as a personal safety
minimum, since the AP does actually help to keep the wings level.
Personally, I'm happy to hand fly, but I believe that my plane would
be safer if it had a simple wing-leveller that I could hit as a panic
button if I ever experienced extreme vertigo. I'm willing to fly
without it, but I can respect that other people might not be.

Interesting you mention this point. I am in the process of watching a few
of the Richard Collins Sporty's aviation DVDs. In the IFR Tips and
Techniques DVD, he offers a PoV that suggest a pilot hand flying in IMC
does not necessarily have the big picture view that a pilot who uses an AP
might.

--
Peter












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David Megginson ) wrote:

Peter R. writes:

Interesting you mention this point. I am in the process of watching
a few of the Richard Collins Sporty's aviation DVDs. In the IFR
Tips and Techniques DVD, he offers a PoV that suggest a pilot hand
flying in IMC does not necessarily have the big picture view that a
pilot who uses an AP might.

I haven't heard that before. Is it because hand flying doesn't leave
you as much time to look at charts, etc., and interpret secondary
information?

I believe that is what he was alluding to, although he did not expand on
the point other than a few general sentences. IIRC, he stating that
allowing the AP to fly frees up the more of the pilot's brain cycles to
monitor engine instruments, charts, GPS, weather, as well as completely
prepare for the upcoming approach.

Collins did mention the dilemma of maintaining proficiency with hand
flying, but he still advocates the majority of flying be done by the AP in
IMC, as (in his experience) the big picture in IMC is so crucial to a
successful outcome.

There is complete segment on another of his DVDs devoted solely to the use
of AP. I expect that he expands on these thoughts, but I have yet to view
it.

--
Peter












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Mick Ruthven ) wrote:

My opinion is that an autopilot is one of the most important items of safety
equipment for single-pilot IFR. It frees a lot of brain cells for important
tasks like situational awareness and, in VMC, looking for traffic. My CFII
fully agreed with that and recommended liberal use of the autopilot for
single-pilot IFR.

I am learning that any piece of equipment that increases the safety of my
flight ought to be used to its fullest potential.

And before the flames start, I'm fully aware of the need to be proficient
in flying IFR without the A/P.

Me, too. Once again, the key here is to avoid the warm and seducing arms
of complacency.

--
Peter












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On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 16:11:52 GMT, David Megginson
wrote:

Peter R. writes:

Interesting you mention this point. I am in the process of watching
a few of the Richard Collins Sporty's aviation DVDs. In the IFR
Tips and Techniques DVD, he offers a PoV that suggest a pilot hand
flying in IMC does not necessarily have the big picture view that a
pilot who uses an AP might.

I haven't heard that before. Is it because hand flying doesn't leave
you as much time to look at charts, etc., and interpret secondary
information?

Pretty much, but it also eliminates the danger of turning in the
direction you look.

Turn your head to the right and look down at charts and you will have
a tendency to do the same with the airplane. With "George" doing the
flying that doesn't happen. OTOH never forget to keep up the
scan...Although rare, George can make mistakes too and sometimes some
rather rapid ones.


Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)
All the best,


David

Roger Halstead writes:

Turn your head to the right and look down at charts and you will
have a tendency to do the same with the airplane. With "George"
doing the flying that doesn't happen. OTOH never forget to keep up
the scan...Although rare, George can make mistakes too and sometimes
some rather rapid ones.

As I mentioned, I'd love to install a wing leveller some day when I
have money available, so I'm not anti-autopilot. That said, this
particular problem is an easy one to avoid -- if you're messing with a
chart or plates or anything else, let go of the yoke. Touching it
cannot possibly do any good when you're not actually looking at the
attitude instruments.


All the best,


David

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:58:10 GMT, David Megginson
wrote:

Roger Halstead writes:

Turn your head to the right and look down at charts and you will
have a tendency to do the same with the airplane. With "George"
doing the flying that doesn't happen. OTOH never forget to keep up
the scan...Although rare, George can make mistakes too and sometimes
some rather rapid ones.

As I mentioned, I'd love to install a wing leveller some day when I
have money available, so I'm not anti-autopilot. That said, this
particular problem is an easy one to avoid -- if you're messing with a
chart or plates or anything else, let go of the yoke. Touching it
cannot possibly do any good when you're not actually looking at the
attitude instruments.

That can work quite well, except when you are in some turbulence and
getting bounced around. It also depends on the airplane. On a smooth
day the Deb is a joy to hand fly, but it's pretty slipery. OTOH if it
gets really rough you turn off the autopilot and hand fly it any way.

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)



All the best,


David

David Megginson wrote in message ...
Peter R. writes:

Interesting you mention this point. I am in the process of watching
a few of the Richard Collins Sporty's aviation DVDs. In the IFR
Tips and Techniques DVD, he offers a PoV that suggest a pilot hand
flying in IMC does not necessarily have the big picture view that a
pilot who uses an AP might.

I haven't heard that before. Is it because hand flying doesn't leave
you as much time to look at charts, etc., and interpret secondary
information?

Collins is a big supporter of APs, and I'm with him. I have a
wing-leveler in my PA28-180. It is a huge help when copying clearance
amendments, studying an approach plate, or eating lunch. I definitely
agree with RC's point that the AP frees up mental bandwidth to process
other things like the big picture.

A lot of people get uptight about APs - but when used properly (ie not
a crutch) they can be a huge asset to single-pilot flying,
particularly IFR.

-Nathan

David Megginson wrote in message ...
(Snowbird) writes:
So don't dismiss the viewpoint that it's unsafe to fly pax
IMC without a GPS. Think about your plans if you start
smelling electrical smoke in IMC (BTDT), or if the engine quits,
or even if you have a vacuum failure or wx is forming around
you and you have to scurry for an airport in a hurry. That
GPS adds a lot of safety "bang for the buck" and I have no
argument against the viewpoint of someone who wouldn't leave
home IMC without it.

I agree entirely that a handheld GPS in the flightbag is an excellent
safety investment

Well, just to clarify my views: a handheld GPS in the flightbag
is next to useless. It has to be set up, turn on, and acquired
at the beginning of the flight to have practical value if things
go south.

I didn't have the impression, though, that the poster was writing
about emergency backup

Not clear. The statement IIRC was simply that he wouldn't want
to fly pax in IMC without GPS. I concur.

-- I had the impression that he (and his
instructor) thought that flying with VOR or ADF was somehow more
dangerous than flying with GPS. In fact, if we're talking about using
a handheld GPS in IMC, we're talking about extra workload, because the
pilot has to tune in the VOR and/or ADF and *then* tune the handheld
backup as well.

Huh?

I fly around with two GPS on and acquired in the cockpit, and
I've never "tuned" one yet . I have selected a navaid or
airport -- is that what you mean?

The point is:
A moving map GPS is a significant aid to situational awareness
whether the GPS has anything selected, or not. It will always
tell you where you are relative to nearby airports and navaids.

So it doesn't have to increase workload one iota.

I would agree that using with *any* equipment you're
not proficient with is a dangerous distraction, but given equal
proficiency, tuning and spinning an ADF or VOR receiver involves no
higher a workload than fiddling with GPS buttons.

Actually the opposite is true. Tuning a VOR receiver and setting
the OBS is a significantly *lower* workload than setting up
a route, loading an approach, or even selecting a navaid and
inputting a course on the typical older panel-mount IFR GPS.

However, given a choice between flying a VOR or NDB approach
or flying a stand-alone GPS approach in actual, I want the latter
every time.

My thing with simple wing-leveler autopilots is I'm not
sure how well ours (anyway) would work in really nasty
conditions. The sort of conditions most likely to induce
spatial disorientation. Not dissing it as a safety item
at all, just saying I see it more as a workload-reducer.

Cheers,
Sydney

David Megginson wrote in message ...

As I mentioned, I'd love to install a wing leveller some day when I
have money available, so I'm not anti-autopilot. That said, this
particular problem is an easy one to avoid -- if you're messing with a
chart or plates or anything else, let go of the yoke.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

This has to be someone who flies Cessnas or (possibly) Pipers

I gotta read this one to my (Grumman specialist) CFI he'll
get a good belly laugh too.

Sydney (it's not true that all small GA planes are stable enough
to fly hands-off level long enough to "mess with" a
chart or plate or anything else)

Response not crossposted - it's against my religion.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:34:36 -0500, Peter R.
wrote:

And before the flames start, I'm fully aware of the need to be proficient
in flying IFR without the A/P.

Me, too. Once again, the key here is to avoid the warm and seducing arms
of complacency.

Disclaimer: I am instrument rated, but not much more than that; I
haven't flown an IFR flight plan since I got the ticket last year, at
least in a real airplane (I've done a few in Flight Simulator). That
said...

I plan to almost always hand-fly instrument approaches in practice
conditions, other than during training sessions with a CFII to better
understand the autopilot as used in APR mode.

But, if I'm making an approach in actual conditions, without that CFII
in the other seat, I'm probably going to let the autopilot fly the
approach to the MAP/DH or darn near close to that, with me managing the
vertical descent as needed on non-ILS approaches.

Of course, this assumes that I'm proficient in the use of the autopilot
for approach work...

But , if I'm in an airplane that has an AP that I'm not familiar with,
then I'll hand fly it. But in general I'd rather let the machinery keep
me upright and alive as long as possible when I'm Doing The Real Thing -
there's a lot going on then and I'll use every available aid to keep the
workload as manageable as possible.

My ego is OK with that approach (no pun intended). I would rather be
overly cautious and alive than doggedly hand-fly an approach in
marginal conditions.

My .02,

Dave Blevins