Written by [When it comes to automation], preparation and knowledge make a difference in outcomes.
Source: AINOnline
Author of this opinion piece from AINOnline, Chris Lutat is managing partner of Convergent Performance, a B777 captain, ex-US Coast Guard search and rescue pilot and co-author of “Automation Airmanship: Nine Principles for Operating Glass Cockpit Aircraft.”
He shares than when writing the (book) Automation Airmanship: Nine Principles for Operating Glass Cockpit Aircraft, it was decided that the focus would not be on the mistakes that crews had made in the last 30 years and the accidents that have resulted, but instead, the spotlight would be turned on what the very best crews in the profession do to avoid these large system failures at all.
He shares his insight into what makes up a kind of superpower that some pilots demonstrate: a special “knowledge reserve” that makes a few pilots perform consistently better when given the same set of in-flight conditions as their peers.
Here are some of the things these pilots know beyond what they learned in transition training:
1. The basic laws and phase of flight their aircraft is designed around;
2. Altitude level-off logic (during climb, cruise, descent, approach, and go-around);
3. Descent logic (from cruise to alert—or decision height or altitude);
4. Autopilot and autothrottle connect and disconnect logic;
5. The indirect mode-change logic that results from delegating tasks to the automation;
6. Operator authority limits that are intended to maintain the aircraft flight path within design maneuvering limits;
7. Feedback mechanisms (color changes, word changes, etc.) that display mode states.
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