Page 28 - Jan24T

Mastery of Flight
Build Complexity
by Thomas P. Turner
A Garmin setup with autopilot controls on the bezel.
It’s almost certainly happened to you: When you engage the autopi- lot, the airplane suddenly turns or pitches some way other than what
you intended. This “what is it doing
now?” moment is more academically
known as mode confusion, a discon-
nect between your automation expec-
tations and what really happens. It’s
usually because of a mistake in your
inputs into the navigation device or
the autopilot controller. An autopi-
lot is a very accurate but very stupid
tell it to do, whether that’s what you wanted to do or not. At best, mode confusion is a nuisance. At the wrong time, it can be deadly.
I’ve introduced a lot of pilots to a
lot of different types of autopilots in
over 30 years teaching in piston twins.
What began for me as a building-block
teaching technique has evolved in the
way I use autopilots myself, beginning
with the basics and adding complex-
ity from there. It puts the aircraft in
while giving me time to add advanced modes as desired from there.
Autopilot modes
Autopilots have two basic modes of operation: vertical modes and lateral modes. These are the two axes that make for a two-axis autopilot (to be a three-axis autopilot it must include a yaw damper as well).
Depending on the specific autopilot, vertical modes may include:
• Attitude mode (holding a constant pitch attitude)
Garmin King Air Emergency Autoland Button – Active
copilot—it will do exactly what you simple automated control right away 26 • TWIN & TURBINE / January 2024