Aircraft of the future may enable pilot habits that are even worse. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin recently met with a crowd of journalists to talk about NASA's general aviation research projects. This includes the AGATE program, and he described the wonders of the cockpit of tomorrow, including "Virtual VMC" displays for night and instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). One journalist-pilot asked glumly, "but what happens when the electrics quit?" The director was taken aback. To me, that's frightening.
Why? Because flying with your eyes solely inside the airplane is a bad habit for any pilot. Even when you're in the clouds (IMC) you should take a moment every minute or so (or more often if workload permits) to look outside. With TCAS, too, you should look up and out in the quadrant where traffic's been spotted to confirm the sighting visually.
Pilots develop "head-down syndrome" early, about the time their instructors introduce them to radio navigation. They become engrossed in the workings of navigation electronics. They neglect the telling landscape outside their windscreen in favor of the exacting world of radio frequencies, digital displays, and centered needles.
The habit becomes especially ingrained in pilots who prefer to navigate exclusively on airways, or who invest in point-to-point equipment such as Loran-C and GPS. Those who go out the day after they earn their private pilot certificates and invest in a high-quality GPS with a moving map are prone to quickly forget the pilotage skills they recently acquired and demonstrated. I've even seen them launch on cross-country flights with their sectional charts still stuffed in their flight bags.
IFR pilots sometimes forget to carry the VFR sectional charts altogether. Oops. Those are the pilots you can pretty much count on rarely looking up from the instrument panel to enjoy the view between takeoff and landing.
That's a tragedy, if you ask me. The pilot in command has, after all, the best window seat in the aircraft. It's a shame when he (or she) doesn't avail himself of the spectacular vistas, landscapes, and cloudscapes just beyond the lip of his instrument panel.
In my opinion, it's a CFI's job to stop the spread of this syndrome. If you see a student developing the head down-and-locked syndrome, cover up the instruments on the panel. Leave only the airspeed indicator and the tachometer visible, then make him guess how high he is and how far away from the airport (even which direction he must steer to head back to it).
Try this with pre-solo students. They'll catch on quickly and reference their universe from outside the airplane. Try it with an instrument rating candidate and you'll discover how dependent he's become on the analog and digital world displayed on the instrument panel. If he protests at flying with considerably less than the standard partial panel, ask him how he'll fare the first time the electrical system dies at night.
That's what I do to all my fledglings. I insist that instrument students include a "head-up and out" in their scans. I emphasize visual pilotage and dead reckoning skills from the beginning of primary training, and I don't back off when we start the hood work. I constantly point out landmarks, interesting cloud formations, the horizon - anything to keep my students outside oriented. Even when I teach aids to navigation I point out the ground stations upon station passage and ask them to confirm passing GPS and Loran C waypoints with external visual identification, if possible. Trust me, it doesn't hurt to let a student peek out from under the hood for a moment here or there. In fact, he'll probably appreciate the brief break.
Try emphasizing the world outside the airplane as much as the fascinating panel within. It's tough, especially if you've acquired a student obsessed with gadgets and gizmos. He may not believe it at the moment, but it will be a lesson that serves him well.
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