Avionics: “Take the Load off Fanny!”
How Modern Avionics Features Can Reduce Pilot Load
By Bob Hart www.AvionixHelp.com
I’m a classic rock guy and was 18 years old in 1968 when The Band sang their song entitled “The Weight.” The Band was a rag-tag group of guys who couldn’t even come up with a name for themselves. The song was essentially about taking on the responsibilities of others and in the process “putting the load right on me.” Pilot workload and associated stress is directly connected to the nature of a flight. Taking off VFR on a beautiful, calm, and clear morning for a breakfast flight in non-controlled airspace is about as low as you get when we talk about pilot load, however, there is still some stress involved. (Fact is, there is both positive and negative stress involved in piloting an aircraft!) Taking off into a 200-foot ceiling with embedded thunderstorms would easily be on the other end of the scale. Flying an airplane is a skill and there is risk involved. Maybe it’s the risk or the need to be precise during key portions of the flight, as in takeoff and landing, especially an approach to minimums in terrain or an underlying concern that the aircraft will “be good”!
In the mid-’80s, I was a sales manager of radio stations and constantly aware of the need for me and my sales staff to produce. No question, some days were better than others. After less-than-good days, I would frequently climb into my Cherokee Six and do a night flight after work; a simple triangular flight which included a touch-and-go at two airports and back to my home base at Hartford, Connecticut. It was then that I recognized the benefits of positive stress. Once I landed, my need to focus on the flight had produced positive stress and did a terrific job of erasing the day’s negative stress. There it is! Flying produces both positive and negative stress in a pilot. It is the intensity of the flight that moves the scale from the positive to the negative. Avionics manufacturers are recognizing this and are emphasizing features and benefits that are reducing pilot load and the resulting negative stress. Let’s visit certain pieces of avionics available today with an emphasis on the features that can “Take the Load Off.”
Garmin says the GMA-350 audio panel was the first all-digital audio panel.
The PS Engineering PMA450B added Bluetooth and includes the company’s exclusive Flightmate features.
Audio Panels Except for the most basic VFR platform where a single comm radio meets the mission, most avionics stacks have an audio panel. These used to be simple “switch boxes.” However, due to the efforts of both PS Engineering (which has driven the market) and Garmin, audio panels today are tools that can benefit any pilot. Here’s a look at the features we see today that can reduce pilot load:
Split Mode: In a two-pilot situation, the pilot can communicate on the #1 comm while the co-pilot communicates (maybe getting Wx?) on #2. Digital Recorder: Continuously records radio communications and allows playback. When a VFR pilot enters controlled airspace, the need to be connected to the radio adds stress and load along with the fear of missing a call. IFR pilots need to be constantly connected and especially love the recorder feature when receiving clearances from ATC. Dynamic Audio: PS Engineering and Garmin call it by different names — IntelliAudio (PS Engineering) and Virtual 3D (Garmin) — and they are not exactly the same, but the concept is that audio from one radio comes at you from a different spot in your headset than the second radio. Example: You hear #1 at 10 o’clock and #2 at 2 o’clock. You mentally separate incoming transmissions by priority based on where it is coming from. Monitor Mode: Allows the pilot to monitor the primary comm while using the #2 comm to listen to ATIS o whatever. Even the VFR pilot can use this. The audio panel recognizes number one as priority and mutes #2 when required. You don’t miss anything. Swap Mode: PS Engineering allows you to add a button on the yoke which will swap between Mic 1 and Mic 2. Hold it for a few seconds and you can switch between Pilot Isolate or not. Garmin adds voice command. Push the button and say Mic 1 or Mic 2 — all this without taking your hands off the yoke. Flightmate: This is a PS Engineering exclusive in its PMA8000G and PMA450B. Most audio panels have unswitched inputs that can be connected to avionics peripherals that have an alarm or audio output. PS goes a step farther and allows you to record your own alarm, in your own voice, when triggered by a device (Sonalert, gear warning, engine monitor, etc.). Flightmate also allows you to record your own checklists (startup, emergency, etc.) which can be called up when needed.
Garmin’s GTR-255A comm was made to reduce your workload by doing things like giving you the ability to listen to ATIS while monitoring ATC.
The Trig TY96 offers the company’s popular “Say Again” feature.
Comms and Navcoms Some of the features incorporated in the newer audio panels, such as Monitor Mode, are also found in the new comms from Trig, Garmin, and Icom. Here are a few new additions: Frequency Storage and Database: All modern comms offer frequency storage, but Garmin and Trig go a step farther by allowing you to download frequency data with alphanumeric designators and store it in the radio’s database. “Say Again”: A Trig Avionics exclusive includes a recorder in its TY91 or TY96 comms that allows you to play back a missed call or clearance.
JPI EDM-700
JPI EDM-930
EI UBG-16
Older engine instruments like the EDM-700 and UBG-16 are considered basic today, but they were active — if a CHT or EGT or similar parameter deviated from preset levels, you were warned. The EDM -930 is “State of the Art”/Primary replacement for today!
Engine Management Factory-installed engine instruments are passive; you must monitor them to benefit from the information. The JPI EDM-700 or the EI UBG-16 monitors would be considered basic by today’s standards, but they still were active. If a CHT or EGT or optional parameter deviated from preset levels, the pilot was warned. Today’s new engine management systems like the EDM-930 can monitor virtually all the important information about your engine and warn you. That pilot flying to breakfast on a clear morning probably doesn’t need this, but the pilot heading into the clouds on a hard IFR flight sure needs this capability. Knowing that all systems are being actively monitored is a big reduction in pilot load. On the other hand, having an oil-pressure alarm go off in serious IFR conditions is going to add stress! Getting the aircraft down sooner versus later, which is what a system like this will help you do, should provide a lot of stress relief! Adding a fuel computer with GPS interface, such as the very affordable JPI FS-450 or Electronics International FP-5L, can tell you a lot and, in the process, ease your load. You can see if fuel consumption increases or decreases from normal and tell you how much fuel you will need to complete the flight and more with data from the GPS.
ADS-B traffic (photo courtesy of Sporty’s iPad News)
Insight’s Strike Finder detects Lightning activity up to 200 miles away.
ADS-B and Active WX and Traffic: When fully implemented, ADS-B Out should improve ATC separation between you and other aircraft. ADS-B In will give you WX and Traffic in the cockpit. In both of these cases, more is better. Active WX and Traffic Sensors take this information to the next level of reliability and in the case of WX, specifically thunderstorm cells where ADS-B falls short, Active WX in the form of a Stormscope or similar device can provide that information. Let’s face it, IFR in an area with reported imbedded thunderstorms will get your blood pressure up. Knowing exactly where they are, independent of ATC, should ease this stress considerably!
The Trio Pro Pilot 3-inch version.
The “flat” (horizontal) version of the TruTrak Vizion.
The #1 Feature: Push the Button Of all the avionics devices that can ease stress and pilot load, the autopilot is King! Nothing is likely to rapidly increase pilot load and associated stress than a sudden loss of control of an aircraft! This can happen in VFR or IFR conditions. The best or, in this case, worst example I can give you here is John F. Kennedy Jr. Pilots have debated this scenario for years since the incident. We seem to agree that he should never have shut off the autopilot in the first place, but what if he had a button he could have pushed at that instant and the plane went to straight and level flight? In IFR conditions, at a point in an approach where shutting off the autopilot might be advised, a simple case of spacial disorientation could put an IFR pilot in a similar situation. Push the Button! This begs a question from me … why have the major providers of autopilots to the certified aircraft market not conceived the idea of such a button sooner? It makes so much sense, doesn’t it? Yet Trio and TruTrak, the two previous “experimental” only autopilot manufacturers that have just entered the certified market, offered this feature to their aircraft builders years ago. Avidyne was the first to offer it to the certified market with the introduction of their DFC90 autopilot that was designed specifically as a retrofit upgrade to the S-TEC System 55 installed in Cirrus aircraft. This was the first certified autopilot to offer such a button. Today, Genesys Aerosystems has added it to its new S-TEC 3100 digital autopilot, Garmin has included it in their new GFC500 and 600 autopilots and you’ll find it in the certified versions of the TruTrak Vizion and Trio Pro Pilot. If losing control of the aircraft rates number one in the “Pilot Load/Stress” category, then the “button” comes in as the #1 new feature found in any avionics device available today!
Conclusion
You can’t fly an airplane and not be aware of pilot load and stress. You probably didn’t know or recognize the positive stress created by flying, but you probably did notice how relaxed you were after you landed. That’s the good stress! If you’re considering avionics upgrades, you might want to think of the features and benefits we discussed above as it relates to your pilot load and the things that cause you stress in your flying. The autopilot market has exploded, and that’s a good thing, but don’t get hung up on big company names instead of autopilot features. An autopilot investment is the single biggest tool you can add to your panel that will give you the biggest return on the Pilot Load/Stress equation, and the Straight and Level button, available on autopilots including the S-TEC 3100, Trio Pro Pilot, and TruTrak Vizion, has never been more affordable.
Thanks for Reading!
Until Next Time … Safe and Happy “low Stress” Flying
Bob Hart