CFIT Background
The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee conducted a study of General Aviation Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) accidents and found that an overreliance on automation was a precursor to many of these incidents. They also found that automation was a factor in accidents that occurred during VMC and IMC, both in day and night operations. That covers just about everything. Clearly, the subject is important. Most automation accidents/incidents involve crew unawareness of automated system modes or crew unfamiliarity with automated systems.
Automation Surprise
There is a common “automation” related thought among pilots who fly technically advanced aircraft and that is:
- What is it doing?
- Why is it doing that?
- What will it do next?
The concern here is obvious. If the pilot doesn’t know what the automation is doing, then who does know? In most cases, the pilot eventually figures it out or turns off the suspect system, but it’s not always that simple.
Optimum Use of Automation
To use the full capability of automation, and to use it correctly, there are several things that pilots must understand. The following should be emphasized during initial and recurrent training to ensure competence with system automation:
- Understanding the integration of Autopilot/Flight Director and auto throttle modes.
- Understanding all mode transition and reversion sequences.
- Understanding pilot-system interfaces for pilot-to-system communication and system to pilot feedback.
- Awareness of available guidance (armed, engaged, and selected targets).
- Alertness to adapt the level of automation to the task and/or circumstances.
- Alertness to revert to hand flying and/or manual thrust control if required.
- Adherence to design philosophy, operating philosophy, and SOP’s.
Basic Rules of Automation
As complicated as some of these modern airplanes may appear at first, there are some very basic rules that will hopefully get you out of trouble before things get serious. It may be as simple as reverting back to basic airmanship and common sense. Here are some rules to remember:
- Automated aircraft can be flown just like any other aircraft.
- Fly, Navigate, Communicate, and Manage (in that order).
- There should be a head up at all times.
- Cross check the accuracy of the Flight Management System (FMS) with raw data.
- Know your Flight Mode Annunciator (FMA) at all times.
- When things don’t go as expected, TAKE OVER MANUALLY!
- Use the correct level of automation for the task.
- Practice task sharing and backing each other up (CRM).
Common Errors in Using Automatic Flight Systems
Making mistakes with automation and not knowing enough about it have been contributing factors in approach-and-landing accidents and incidents, including those that are classified as Controlled Flight into Terrain. Pilots should be very confident in their knowledge of pertinent automatic flight systems (AFS), while still avoiding the following common errors:
- Inadvertent selection of an incorrect mode.
- Failure to verify the selected mode by reference to the FMA.
- Failure to arm a mode at the correct time (failing to arm the approach mode).
- Inadvertent change of a target entry (changing the airspeed instead of heading).
- Failure to enter a required target (correct final approach course).
- Incorrect altitude entry and failure to confirm the entry on the Primary Flight Display.
- Entering a target altitude that is lower than the final approach intercept altitude.
- Preoccupation with FMS programming during critical phases of flight.
- Failure to monitor automation and cross check parameters with raw data.
Conclusion
Using the full capabilities of aircraft automation is dependent on the pilot understanding what those capabilities are, as well as his/her continuous awareness of what is happening now and what is expected to happen next. Staying ahead of the aircraft AND the automation is a way to reduce the number of CFIT and Approach/Landing accidents. Fortunately, the industry is working hard to make this happen.
