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Safety Topic of the Month: Overreliance on Automation

Welcome to the Safety Section of the Flying Clubs Newsletter, Club Connector!

Every month we provide resources for flying club safety officers to keep their clubs informed and safe. We include links to PowerPoint presentations (and smaller PDFs) that we use at our own meetings, so there is always a topic ready for your club’s next safety meeting. Along with the presentations, we also provide links to relevant articles, videos, and other media that you may also find useful. You can find this month’s safety article and the full archive, here: https://youcanfly.aopa.org/flying-clubs/flying-club-newsletter/safety

So, let’s get on with this month’s safety topic!

September Safety Topic of the Month: Overreliance on Automation

Click here to download the PowerPoint presentation

Background:

Avionics technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years. The tried and true “six pack” is rapidly being phased out in favor of fancy new glass panels with more features than your average pilot will ever use. This technology boom has certainly helped to ease a pilot’s workload in some areas while also contributing in increasing their workload in other areas. For instance, making changes to pre-loaded flight plans on the fly (no pun intended) can be significantly more complicated on that 10-inch touch screen then simply tuning a new Nav frequency and intercepting a course.

Understanding how cockpit automation serves to reduce the airplane handling workload is only half the battle. We must also understand how our human selves must adapt to an ever-changing technological environment.

Learning Points:

  • Monitoring multiple screens can quickly become boring, leading to a risk of missing important information
  • Autopilots can fly more precisely than any one of us can, though an overreliance on autopilot can degrade stick and rudder skills
  • Attempting to program inputs into multiple layers of menus while also flying the aircraft can lead to task saturation
  • Complex avionics lead to not only being proficient with flying the airplane but also being proficient with how to manipulate and navigate the avionics themselves
  • Overreliance on ADS-B In and TCAS systems deemphasizes out-the-window traffic scans
  • Flying a “new-to-me” aircraft now becomes significantly more complicated as variations in avionics becomes more common

References:

Other Safety Resources:

Here is a reminder of just some of the safety resources available to all pilots:

FAASTeam:

faasafety.gov

The FAASTeam website is the portal to a vast array of courses, videos, links, and much more. Remember that WINGS not only encompasses knowledge activities, but also flight activities. Use the search options to narrow down to say, flight activities for a basic phase of WINGS, and you’ll be able to find a syllabus and often a worksheet for various flight activities. Use WINGS to keep you proficient and think of the flight activities as a progressive flight review—earned over 12-months, rather than at the end of 24-months.

Wait…you don’t do WINGS?

That’s a big shame—you are missing out on a free pilot proficiency program that will help you enjoy your flying even more, allow you to earn a flight review every 12-months just by flying, and may provide insurance discounts.

The FAASTeam WINGS pilot proficiency program is the best way for general aviation pilots to ensure they are competent, confident, and safe in their flight operations. Oh, and being perpetually proficient will save you money in the long run.

If you are interested in using the FAASTeam WINGS program for your personal flying or with your flying club, create an account on the FAASTeam website, http://www.faasafety.gov, and explore the collection of courses and flight activities. Also, feel free to contact me (Cade Halle, WINGS Representative), and I’d be pleased to walk you through the program. More on “WINGS for Clubs” can be found here in Flying Clubs Radio Episode 8 and the May 2020 Question of the Month.

Other FAA Resources:

Don’t forget to regularly revisit these FAA safety gems, as new material is frequently added:

Pilot Minute

57 Seconds to Safer Flying

FAA Safety Briefing Magazine

From the Flight Deck

AOPA Air Safety Institute:

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/air-safety-institute

AOPA’s Air Safety Institute (ASI), which by the way is funded by the AOPA Foundation just like the Flying Clubs Initiative, is packed with exceptional content, including exceptional videos, podcasts, accident analysis, online courses, recorded webinars and more. Completing ASI activities may also earn WINGS credits. Of particular interest to flying club safety officers is the updated Safety to Go section. There, you can download a selection of topics, each coming with PowerPoint slides and speaker’s notes!

AOPA Medical Certificate Specialist Cade Halle poses for a photo at Frederick Municipal Airport in Frederick, Maryland, May 4, 2022. Photo by David Tulis.
Cade Halle
Manager, Flying Clubs Initiative, AOPA
Cade is the manager of the AOPA Flying Clubs Initiative, which helps start and grow flying clubs, nationwide. Cade is a formation qualified, AOPA staff pilot as well as a FAASTeam representative.

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