Instructor Report: The safety paradox in aviation

While these features are designed to keep drivers safe, they do not come without risk. For example, most cars with the autonomous braking systems only self-brake at lower speeds. If a driver doesn’t fully understand the system, he may expect it to work on the highway—with disastrous consequences. They may rely on it too much, causing them to focus less than they normally would on obstacles in front of them. The very systems intended to increase safety can in fact reduce that safety margin when used improperly.

Aviation faces a similar situation. Modern airplanes have everything from parachutes to terrain and traffic avoidance displays. They have autopilots, moving maps, and satellite weather. And while these features absolutely can make flying safer than ever before, they also have pitfalls that can get even the most well-intentioned pilots into trouble. When instructing today’s student pilots, it’s no longer enough to teach the basic stick-and-rudder skills necessary to operate simple training aircraft.

Once a student gets a certificate, the world of aviation is open. The new pilot may be operating an aircraft with a ballistic parachute system, or a glass cockpit equipped with a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) and traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS). On the private pilot checkride, it is very likely that your student pilot applicant won’t have to do much more than demonstrate a working knowledge of those systems currently installed. But is that enough?

As instructors, our first priority is developing safe pilots. We have a responsibility to teach not only basic operating knowledge of the standard safety systems, but also to point out their downsides and caution against complacency.

Aircraft parachute systems. An instructor lost an engine shortly after climbing into instrument conditions in a Cirrus he was flying with the aircraft’s owner. The owner wanted to pull the parachute; the instructor wanted to make an emergency landing at the airport he knew was still behind him. They landed safely without having to pull the chute, but its presence was a distraction. Something that was meant to increase safety ended up being one more thing the pilot had to consider in a high-stress emergency situation. Just as you should brief engine-out scenarios before every takeoff, so should you teach your students operation of the parachute.

Satellite weather. Many pilots fly with a tablet or portable navigation device to increase situational awareness. When used for that purpose, safety margins can be drastically improved. However, when the tablet also is uplinked to satellite weather, it can get pilots into trouble because it inevitably has delays—as much as 10 to 20 minutes, even when the system is working properly. Because of this, it should never be used to shoot the gap between thunderstorm cells. Staying 20 miles away from any mature thunderstorm is still the safest practice.

Traffic and terrain avoidance systems. Again, these systems can vastly reduce the chance of a midair collision or controlled flight into terrain accident, but only when used by a well-trained pilot who understands the limitations. A head-down environment is not a safe one. There is no substitute for looking outside.

GPS and moving-map displays. I am embarrassed to say that moving maps have become such an integral part of everyday flying life that I feel a twinge of discomfort when embarking on a new cross-country without the aid of a GPS. People have been navigating using old-fashioned pilotage and dead reckoning for years. The GPS can make cross-country flying easier, but we need to maintain situational awareness using other navigational aids such as a sectional chart or VOR in case that little screen goes black. Magenta-line dependency is dangerous.

Autopilot. For long cross-countries and single-pilot operations, an autopilot is a helpful resource—so helpful, in fact, that it can create an automation-dependent pilot with rapidly degrading flying skills if used too frequently. Like any other piece of aircraft equipment, autopilots have been known to malfunction and take unsuspecting pilots on wild rides. So, teach your students that autopilot operation and multiple methods of disconnection must be tested as part of every prefight.

As aircraft become more technically advanced, so too will the systems designed to increase our safety. As instructors, we have a responsibility to teach our students more than just a basic knowledge of the systems they inevitably will encounter. We also have to impart the perspective that those things can only help protect us when accompanied by a proficient and properly trained pilot.

Natalie Bingham Hoover, ATP/CFII/MEI, has given more than 3,000 hours of dual instruction and is an FAA designated pilot examiner. She lives in Germantown, Tennessee.