Comments on: Research Discovery!

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 05:14:38 +0000

Bruce, your sarcasm is out of place. There’s obviously a disagreement over the safest way to use automation or there wouldn’t be different teachings on the matter. Resolving that disagreement has to start with research to quantify the actual safety impact. If that confirms what you already suspected you should welcome it, not ridicule it.

Moreover, it was just a few months ago that Tom Haines wrote that we should stop being so mean to our fellow aviators. Or did you interpret him to mean that others should be less mean to you, not that you should be any less mean to others?

By: Sam Singer

Sam Singer — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:47:22 +0000

Hi Bruce — as you know i am a VFR pilot only with over 1,000 hrs — by the way this does not make me a bad pilot — but both of my planes have auto pilot to GPS and i always hand fly to altitude and hand fly to approach — for me it is just much more fun — at cruise it is usually auto-pilot all the way — have fun guys!

By: Bridgette Doremire

Bridgette Doremire — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:54:27 +0000

Poorly trained pilots are usually the ones that show for a 1.0 BFR, with nothing wrong, they fly perfectly, just ask them. Poor training can stem from a poor instructor, which I’ve seen at all price levels and instructor experience levels, fortunately less frequency as the instructor’s experienced increased. Most likely, though, the poor training comes from a poor attitude, and a deeply embedded desire to do the minimum possible. However, even highly trained pilots can have their hand flying skills deteriorate if they don’t hand fly. Review the FAA’s accident and incident rate for those pilots that have not flown in 30, 60, or 90 or more days, the 90+ rate increases exponentially, which might be an area for the FAA to further focus. Are these 90+ guys a year out of date, six months, or was the Investigating Inspector too busy to inquire further?

While private pilots were at more risk to show in the 90+ column, I have reviewed both commercial and ATP levels in the incident reports. With the attacks against owning corporate aircraft a few years ago, there are tons of professional pilots out of work. As they lose currency from not working, does their risk level increase as rapidly as a private pilots? On the more experienced professional pilot level, I was honored to observe a sixteen year airline captain perform a near-perfect IPC after having he had been furloughed and not flown for over three years. I had to work hard to find anything that needed improvement.

Thoughts, anyone?