Flight Training - June 2014 - 36

perform safely in those highstress conditions. Most new
pilots report feeling rushed,
distressed, and even a little
panicky when that much multitasking is required. And when
panic sets in, balls get dropped.
When learning a new skill,
dealing with inoperative
equipment, or flying in adverse
weather, some level of stress is
unavoidable. But what do we
do when cockpit multitasking
raises pilot stress to an uncomfortable or dangerous level?
And how do we avoid putting
ourselves into those situations
in the first place?
THERE HAVE BEEN several
times during the course of my
aviation career when stressful
cockpit environments managed

WHEN YOU DO GET YOURSELF IN A
STICKY SITUATION, DON'T TRY TO BE
A HERO. ASK FOR HELP.
to take all the fun out of flying.
It's during those times that I
remember words of wisdom
spoken by my first boss in aviation. He was an experienced
airline captain and part-owner
in a charter outfit where I had
just been hired. He had the
dubious job of teaching me to
fly a Beechcraft King Air 200,
when the majority of my previous flying experience didn't
involve anything faster than a
Cessna 172 truing at a whopping 110 knots. The King Air
was much bigger and faster,
and had a lot more buttons to
push. During our first training
session, I was trying to set up
for an instrument approach,
run a descent and landing
checklist, and deal with the
unfamiliarity of the procedures
that accompany a pressurized
airplane, all while traveling 250
36 /

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

knots and feeling like I was plummeting toward Earth at a dangerous rate.
In short, that airplane was flying me, not the other way around. Somewhere
around this point, my irritatingly calm instructor decided to speak up.
"You're working awfully hard over there. Why don't you ask for help? Let me
run a checklist for you. Ask ATC to vector us around again. And for goodness' sake, slow down." And then he added with a smug smile, "Remember,
good pilots are lazy." I couldn't quite understand what he meant then, as my
mind was task-saturated. But time and perspective are good teachers, and I
eventually grasped what he was trying to say: A good pilot knows her limits
and flies the airplane in such a way that the workload will never exceed the
pilot capability. And, when you do get yourself into a sticky situation, don't
try to be the hero. Ask for help.
THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS to quickly minimize pilot workload. First of
all, slow down. If an instrument approach or a trip around the traffic pattern seems to be moving too fast, it may be because you are still flying at an
airspeed more appropriate for cruise flight. Reduce the power and get some
drag out, whatever that may be on your airplane. Flaps, gear, controllablepitch propellers, and spoilers are all tools for helping to reduce the airspeed.
If you have really gotten behind the airplane, you may be too fast and also
too high. In that case, most pilots find themselves way above maximum
flap-extend speed because they are aggressively pitching down to get on
glideslope. The wisest thing to do in this situation is to momentarily sacrifice
getting on the glideslope so that you can pitch up to reduce your airspeed
below VFE. With the drag of the flaps, the airplane will be much easier to
slow down and also attain a descent rate that will get you back on glideslope.
Don't forget, a go-around is always the safe decision if you find yourself in a
situation where a stable approach is no longer possible.
Adverse weather conditions and equipment malfunctions are other highworkload situations that often get pilots into trouble. This is where good
cockpit resource management (CRM) comes in handy. CRM has become an
annoyingly overused aviation buzz term, but don't let that turn you off. "Poor
CRM technique" is listed as the reason for any number of recent accidents
and incidents. We are all more than familiar with the resources available to
us. The problem is that we don't think we need to use them. How many times
have we let our altitude fluctuate while reading and performing a checklist
when there's a perfectly capable person sitting in the right seat? Why not let
that person read the checklist out loud so that we can fly the airplane and
look outside for traffic?
The autopilot is another underused resource that can help increase the
margin of safety during situations that require a high amount of multitasking. While there's a lot to be said for staying proficient and hand flying as
often as you can, it may be wiser to let the autopilot do most of the work
during adverse weather conditions so that you can manage more effectively.
Remember that ATC also is a valuable resource, especially when dealing
with an equipment malfunction. Focus all of your attention on flying the airplane safely and don't waste your time on tasks that ATC will be more than
happy to help with, such as providing vectors to the nearest suitable airport.
THERE IS NOTHING like the feeling of being so stressed in the cockpit that
you would give anything to be on the ground. Once you have experienced
that unpleasantness-and you will if you fly long enough-you come up with
ways to make sure you never find yourself in that situation again. There are
several ways to do this; and they all involve planning ahead.

http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Flight Training - June 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - June 2014