Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network.

Aero-Tips 08.28.06

I have a student who is checking out in a high-performance, single-engine airplane. He recently finished his Instrument rating in a late-model Cessna Skyhawk, so he's up to speed on GPS operations and using an autopilot, with a KLN 94/KAP 140 package. 

The airplane he'd checking out in boasts a Garmin GNS430 with an MX20 multifunction display (MFD), another step up from what he flew in the Cessna. The KFC 150 autopilot is also more complex, and includes an altitude preselect function. I'd already logged over six hours with him in this airplane, reviewing the basics of this particular airplane type and the usual turns, stalls, takeoffs and landings. We were scheduled for another after-work flight in which I hoped to practice a bit more maneuvering and the procedure for manually extending the retractable landing gear in the event the primary system failed.

When my student showed up for the briefing, however, he told me he really wanted a little more familiarity with the avionics in his airplane, and he had taken the initiative to file a short IFR cross-country flight to give himself the opportunity. We had had bad weather all day, but the skies were clearing and I thought, "why not?" An avionics familiarization session was in our near future anyway, so I was fine with a little diversion in our checkout regimen if it would make him more confident and capable in his airplane. We'll get back to the more mundane training later.

Avionics familiarization

There was a time not very long ago when the radios in one airplane worked pretty much like the radios in all others. That day is gone. Checking out in a modern cross-country airplane is going to take some time devoted solely to figuring out how all the radios work, and how they interface with each other. My student's instincts were spot on-take a short trip, in the IFR system but in good weather, to get a feel for "real-world" use of the GPS, MFD and autopilot. We took our short flight and we both learned more about the specific equipment in his airplane, flying a departure, en route and an ILS to a full stop, and then retracing our steps with a GPS approach at home base. As we taxied in to parking upon return to our departure airport he felt a lot more in tune with his airplane, and I was gratified that my student was much more capable in his airplane for having taken this short flight. It was the sort of "Line Oriented Flight Trianing" (LOFT) scenario common in airline training and coming to the forefront in FAA/Industry Training Standards (FITS) philosophy.

Aero-tip of the day: Take the necessary time for avionics familiarization, so vital in the modern cross-country cockpit.

FMI: Aero-Tips