As usual, this is an excellent webinar. Even though it is four years old, I just watched it and found Mike Busch again giving practical advice that at times is at variance with dogma. Example? Mike's firm recommendation to use your autopilot in single-pilot IFR. I completely agree with his requirement to have a working autopilot to fly SPIFR. Mike says "one hour or less." My personal minimum is that I won't take off without a working autopilot when flying SPIFR in expected IMC. The safety advantage from using an autopilot is fantastic. I am disappointed by some mainstream opinion that warns constantly of autopilot dependence. I maintain proficiency, but I also maintain safe flight with an autopilot when flying SPIFR. Once again, Mike Busch speaks practical wisdom.

24:10 Excellent insights and suggestions as always. Regarding HDG and ALT assignments, I like the idea of setting HDG/ALT bugs first, then reading back what I’ve just bugged. But this doesn’t seem to work well in practice because it typically takes 5-10 seconds to bug both, and so oftentimes the controller assumes I didn’t hear them and just repeats the transmission. In contrast, writing both down on a piece of paper or EFB takes 3-4 seconds, and that works fine. So perhaps the old way of just writing it down is better. Still, for me what seems to work best is to simply reply with what I heard, then bug it; if I’m not sure, I just ask for clarification or replay the last transmission (using the Play button on the audio panel). Writing ALT/HDG assignments is definitely more fool proof in that it reduces the chance of a misunderstanding, but it also requires some heads down, which in itself could be a problem say, shortly after takeoff into IMC, or during an approach. So overall, there are trade offs with both techniques. Until we get textual clearances over the air, we’ll have to accept that misunderstandings are possible but hopefully can be caught before they become a problem by either the controller or the PIC. Curious how others feel about this suggestion.

Thanks for the stormscope eval, by the way. I have suspected it was less useful in the days of fis/xm, its good to have that spelled out.

Couple of fast comments here: 1. Getting data from ASRS reports strikes me as a bit biased already, since these are most likely to be filed against issues that ATC is aware of. 2. As a pilot with a new all glass cockpit, and several hours of using it, there is either things that work better with the old six pack or I simply am not used to yet, so not everything is easier with glass. My instructor noticed this as well. I kept my old altimeter, and it is simply more apparent when wandering off altitude with the steam gauge than the tape display.

90% of those botched approaches are probably caused by mistakes setting up the avionics, not poor tracking

I had an experience with extreme thermals over the Rio Grande valley. With the power at idle and the airspeed approaching yellow, the PA28 was climbing at 1K feet per minute! What the hell are you supposed to do then? ATC asked me what my altitude was, and I explained that I was having trouble maintaining. They were nice about it and after a few minutes things returned to somewhat normal.

@janzenandrew

Жыл бұрын

Ask for a block altitude clearance from ATC.

My only altitude bust happened when I accidentally ran a tank dry. I’m not sure ATC even noticed

Haha A2A 172 in the thumbnail :)

Switching from verbal to text based ATC instructions would be a huge advancement.

@charleseinarson

4 жыл бұрын

R.E. Tread I disagree. Sure you might eliminate some common errors but now other pilots can’t build a picture of what is happening around them. I for one have avoided a possible disaster because I could hear what a pilot was saying on the radio. Had his instructions come via text, we would have tried to occupy the same space at the same time.

@KyleD237

4 жыл бұрын

If texting and driving is a bad idea, what about single pilot IFR?

@shadowsrwolf

3 жыл бұрын

@@KyleD237 balancing workload. You can look back at a text to verified you understood it correctly

@scottfranco1962

3 жыл бұрын

I think voice communication is now the most out of date part of flying. We could have gone to digital radios a while ago, and this would have enabled things like adding text instructions (while keeping voice), alerts directed at particular aircraft, automated handoffs, and finally, the entire radio system could be inverted. That is, there is no reason airplanes can't talk UP to a satellite network as opposed to ground stations. This would eliminate MRAs forever. Note that major airlines have already implemented most of this.

@wntu4

2 жыл бұрын

@@shadowsrwolf Thats why we write down things like clearances and read them back to ATC. If it's not perfect it is repeated.