Page 38 - Volume 16 Number 5

...over-reliance on cockpit automation may be a by-product of current training philosophies, especially in single-pilot jets.Running the risk of sounding like I’m affixing blame (which is not my intention), there are several lessons this accident prompts us to consider no matter what type of plane we fly:Even if faced with systems malfunctions, the requirement to hand-fly a trimmable airplane for 45 minutes should not be so foreign to a pilot that it fatigues him/her beyond the ability to make a visual landing. I’m all in favor of autopilot use as a workload reducer. But, going back to my experience as a simulator instructor for an international flight safety training provider, the most common failure I saw in pilots of high-performance singles and light twins was an inability to hand-fly normal maneuvers to Practical Test Standards criteria as a result of over-reliance on the autopilot. And that was before the current training emphasis on near-constant autopilot use in this class of airplane.Unless your airplane has independent and redundant autopilot systems, you are the back- up in case anything goes wrong with cockpit automation, and you have to be up to the task at all times.Noting that it’s not the case in the Citation Mustang, we must also consider:A recent trend in airplane production is to eliminate manual back-ups to trim actuation. All- electric trim saves complexity, weight and cost—all highly desirable by aircraft manufacturers and owners alike. This trend began in larger jets that have redundant electrical systems and in some cases even completely redundant trim mechanisms.The no-back-ups, all-electric trim approach has now, however, become common in certified production lighter airplanes as well. Lack of36 • TWIN & TURBINEMAY 2012