Everything you need, every time
In a vain search for the attitude indicator, you look high and low on the panel. The heading indicator's on the left, the airspeed indicator's on the right, and the attitude indicator? Who knows? Maybe in the glove box? In the 1960s, there was no standard for instrument panel organization — as you can tell from the wide variations among otherwise similar aircraft. In 1973 came a standard "T" configuration for instrument panels in aircraft weighing more than 6,000 pounds, and the "six-pack," as it became known, was adopted by most light-aircraft manufacturers as well. Now every instrument pilot knows where to anchor the scan. Organization lowers the workload, and having the panel remain the same no matter what equipment you fly leads to greater situational awareness and safety. The same can be said for another kind of cockpit organization, the kind you take with you in your flight bag.
Having your resources organized will help you continue to cross-check navigation sources, fuel levels, and weather in a timely manner throughout the flight. The complexity of today's airplanes requires a systematic approach to their operation. And you cannot be systematic unless you are organized.
It starts with a checklist. Develop your own checklist from the manufacturer's checklist with additions according to your specific aircraft and operations. This way, phase checklists — like before-takeoff, climb, cruise, approach, and after-landing checklists — can accomplish all important procedures, and you won't have to rely on your memory to recall key ones specific to the aircraft.
Warren Morningstar, AOPA vice president of communications and an instrument-rated commercial pilot with single- and multiengine ratings, developed a special checklist for the Beechcraft A36 Bonanza that he flies. "The factory checklist wasn't specific enough to our aircraft," says Morningstar. "There are gotchas in that airplane that had caught me a couple of times, things that were not covered in the basic checklist." His checklist includes aftermarket equipment in the airplane, like the fuel totalizer, and equipment not found on other aircraft he flies, like the radar. "Checking the radar [after landing] so you don't fry the lineboy, checking the nav/GPS switch [on the GPS annunciator panel] — for me it makes flying the airplane so much simpler."
Because he flies a variety of aircraft, and he doesn't fly every day, Morningstar also includes other operational information on his checklist, such as emergency procedures and V-speeds. "It's the quick bit of info that I need, such as having V Y right in the takeoff sequence."
Whether you use your own checklist or the one from the pilot's operating handbook, always position the checklist in the same place — in a pocket by your leg or in a seat pocket within reach. It is distracting to have to search for the important tools, especially in high-workload situations.
Same procedures, different day
Checklist consistency is just one element of familiarity that good organization can lend to every flight. Another way to maintain consistency is to go through the same flight-planning motions every time. Some pilots do this by using the same tools, such as flight planning programs, every time they fly. Steve Harris, special assistant to AOPA President Phil Boyer, acts as chief pilot for AOPA-owned aircraft and flies regularly on business for the association in a Cessna CitationJet, Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, and Piper Archer. He also rents aircraft from a local flight center to fulfill personal missions.
Harris uses Jeppesen's FliteStar/FliteMap flight-planning program for most flights. And he follows a pattern that starts a couple of days beforehand.
He gathers some preliminary weather information first to help him ascertain the route, fuel requirements, alternates, and the likelihood that the flight will actually transpire. Then Harris builds his flight in the program by selecting a route, downloading specific weather through the DUATS connection contained in the program, and reviewing aircraft weight and balance and performance data. If he's flying an unfamiliar rental aircraft, he uses FliteStar's standard performance profiles to ballpark fuel, performance, and payload.
All that paper
Identify the mission and organize the elements of your flight information and tools accordingly. A cross-country flight during day VFR? Lay out a navigation log, weather notes, and the corresponding sectional chart, along with some form of calculator for figuring in-flight changes to fuel status and time en route. If you're flying solo, have these handy on the seat next to you. Does your trip take you close to dusk? Retrieve your flashlight from the depths of your flight bag and place it in a handy pocket or glove box for easy access should the lights get low.
For example, you can set your flight bag up in the seat next to you, or purchase a small plastic desk organizer to store the instrument approach procedure books you'll need, along with low-altitude en route charts and sectionals or world aeronautical charts (WACs). Plan according to the mission and put your charts in the order in which you'll use them or you'll find yourself scrambling through en route charts when what you really need is a terminal area chart. Carry printouts of every critical piece of electronically stored flight information, from logs to charts, unless you have multiple ways of accessing the electronic versions — e.g., airport information stored in a panel-mount GPS and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
Now that you have the paper organized, you can organize the boxes. If you're going VFR, enter your flight plan into the GPS or loran and/or set up the VOR or ADF navigation radios as needed. Or for the truly unplugged, note your compass heading on a Post-It note or with a twist of the heading bug. For an IFR trip, there are two lines of thought. If you're departing a nontowered airport in a part of the country where filed routings are accepted and given as a rule, go ahead and enter the flight plan before you call ATC. If you're departing a towered field, or if you live anywhere east of the Appalachians, get the good word from clearance delivery before you go entering waypoints into the magic box. Sometimes you'll get your requested routing, but sometimes ATC has an entirely different plan. (How many ways are there to get from the Washington, D.C., area to New York? It's amazing.)
Harris uses another plan when departing from Frederick in the CJ: He enters the standard IFR departure from Frederick — Frederick direct Westminster VOR — and then the next likely fix along the route, and finally the destination. "Because [the route] will change, be smart in what you enter for your route," says Harris. But he has a caveat. "It falls back on how comfortable people are flying in IMC [with the avionics]." Know how to change your routing efficiently. "It's a fine line."
Familiarity breeds safety
Be familiar with the organization of the materials you will be using in the cockpit. You can have the world's most amazing flight computer at your fingertips, yet not be able to extract any information from it because you must look at the user's manual in order to do simple calculations. The same goes for airport guides, charts, approach plates, and navigation logs. If you don't know where to look for the information ahead of time, you increase your workload in the cockpit. A few minutes spent familiarizing yourself with the layout of, say, an airport guide, will help you find the traffic pattern altitude at a glance rather than through a minute of scanning the page when you should be looking for traffic.
Peter Duncan, a demonstration and production test pilot for Pilatus Business Aircraft in Broomfield, Colorado, flies many different versions of the same model airplane, the Pilatus PC-12. Duncan also relies on consistency to ensure that every flight meets the same safety standards. Whether he's conducting a demonstration flight with a customer or delivering a new aircraft to a remote location, he chooses the conservative route. "When it comes down to it I am always PIC," says Duncan.
"As a single pilot the entire responsibility of the flight rests on my shoulders, so it is important to be organized in all aspects, especially regarding cockpit management. I have the approach plates already out or indexed with a tab so I can quickly refer to them." It's important for Duncan, like Harris, to have all the pertinent information readily available and organized for quick reference. Duncan also uses Post-It notes to copy clearances and ATIS information. "I can stick these in clear view on the glareshield." Duncan also vocalizes his approach briefing and checklist items for each phase of flight "even when there is no one else on board."
Time is another key to staying organized. "A goal of mine is to always arrive and have ample time to prepare the airplane before the flight," Duncan says. "Invariably it seems like I am always rushed before a flight and I hate the added stress." Duncan does as much ahead of time as he can: He has the airplane fueled the night before — he even grinds his coffee before retiring at night so that he need only flip the switch on the coffee machine in the morning.
He also finds ways to create extra time — and avoid feeling pressured — in the air. "With the PC-12 we can fly very fast, but it's nice that I can slow the airplane to slow down the moment, change the time from five minutes to an intersection and slow down to make it eight — three minutes can make a huge difference," says Duncan.
The basics
"Technology is great," says Duncan, "but what it all really comes down to are those fundamentals we learned: instrument interpretation, cross-check, and aircraft control."
If you aim for consistency, organizing your cockpit so that everything is in its place every time, those fundamentals come easily. Just like finding the attitude indicator in the same place on every panel.
E-mail the author at [email protected].
Putting It Into Practice: One to Get Ready
The preflight starts days before reaching the airplane
Take a look at my office and you'll quickly recognize that organizational skills may not be my strong suit. But within the chaos that is my desk there is actually a certain level of organization. Using time-proven geologic techniques, I can usually find what I want by knowing that the longer it has been since I've seen it the farther down the pile it is. Alas, I have yet to find a diamond or oil. I take a certain comfort in knowing that another editor here — who shall remain nameless — takes disorganization to an entirely new plane, if you'll pardon the pun. In the cockpit and in preparation for getting into the cockpit, I try to do better.
For me, a cross-country flight starts five days before takeoff. It is then that I begin checking the 120-hour Meteorlogix forecast on AOPA Online. No meteorologist will hit a forecast right on from five days out, but I can at least spot trends that help me in planning for the flight. Sometimes I can quickly discern that the weather is likely to be good and I don't have to spend a lot of additional time digging around in the weather information. If the weather looks like it is going to be challenging, I will watch it more closely in the intervening days.
At about the same time, I'll build a quick flight plan using Jeppesen's FliteStar software. Like Steve Harris, I have used this program for years. It has many more features than I use on a regular basis, but I've become quite comfortable with the interface. The flight plan will tell me whether I need to plan a fuel stop or not, which leads to the next step — figuring out which airport and FBO to use at the stops. FliteStar contains basic airport information, but for more details I turn to our own product, AOPA's Airport Directory. Depending on where I am, I use either the book itself, the online version, or the eDirectory — a downloadable version for use on your personal computer or in your Palm personal digital assistant. If it's an airport I have not been to before, I often print out the airport listing for use in the cockpit.
A day or so before the trip, it's time to think about charts. For convenience in the cockpit, I usually print from AOPA Online the approach charts for each scheduled stop. The larger size and flat format make them easier to use in the cockpit than the government books. But because of the weather vagaries of general aviation flying, I always bring all of the chart books for my entire route. I do the same with en route charts. I also carry an Air Chart Systems atlas of world aeronautical and low-altitude en route charts in the airplane in case I have to divert very far off the planned route.
In the airplane, I put the charts in the order that I will use them. My father built a small wooden console for charts that neatly fits on the floor between the pilot and copilot seats of my airplane. Likewise, the approach chart books for the planned stops go in order. The rest of the charts are placed in a case within easy reach behind the copilot's seat.
Before getting into the airplane for takeoff, I like to pause for a minute to consider the flight. Will it be dark before I land? If so, I make sure the Mini-Mag flashlight is in the console where it should be and that it works. Extra batteries are there too. A larger flashlight with extra batteries is right behind the copilot's seat. Is my cell phone off but nearby if I need it in an emergency? Finally, are the keys out of my pocket and on the glareshield where they should have been placed during the preflight? I can't tell you how many times I have buckled in and discovered the keys still in my pocket. Those of you who have never done this are excused from class.
Next comes the easy part — flying the trip. A well-planned trip in an organized cockpit is truly a delight and well worth the preparation time. — Thomas B. Haines
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