AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2015 - 14

WAYPOINTS

Not so alone

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

The secret life of the single pilot
SLOGGING THROUGH THE MURK fearing a two-degree
temperature drop may lead to an icing encounter, darkness setting in, facing a low approach at an unfamiliar
airport with terrain around. Some days (or nights), the
cockpit of a single-engine piston airplane seems like a
lonely place, with all of the responsibility for the safe
conclusion of a flight resting on the one set of pilot
shoulders anywhere to be found. Airline crews work
together in highly capable airplanes with unimaginable resources available to them in the form of aircraft
performance, system redundancy, dispatchers a call
away, advanced training, and that second trained body
to advise and assist.
Fortunately, those of us who fly single pilot in simpler airplanes have more tools available to us than
those daring flights we read about in books by SaintExupéry and Gann. The tablet computer, for example.
For about one aviation monetary unit (the AMU-
equivalent to $1,000-is how pilots discuss airplane
costs with spouses while minimizing marital melt-

Iron Mike, Otto, or George-pick your moniker-
but even the most basic autopilot can be a great aid
for single-pilot operations.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Tom Haines
frequently flies his
Bonanza alone and
with other pilots.

14 | AOPA PILOT March 2015

down), one can buy a tablet computer and portable
ADS-B receiver, a combination that brings unbelievable situational awareness to even the simplest
cockpit. On a recent flight with my iPad on my lap and
the ForeFlight electronic flight bag software running,
I heard the system alert me that I was about to enter
a runway, just as a copilot might call out. In this case I
was crossing an inactive runway with permission, but
the heads up was most appreciated nonetheless. While
nonpilot passengers can be helpful in calling out traffic, most would not have the situational awareness to
know to call out the runway environment.
Similarly, approaching an airport, extended centerlines with enlarged runway numbers can be shown on
many EFBs, helping identify the correct runway. Most
EFBs these days also show terrain relative to the route,
some in three dimensions and with terrain alerting.
Such panel-mount capability costs dozens of AMUs,
a level of expenditure that frequently requires massive amounts of monetary expenditures to occur on
the other side of the marital ledger.

Other tools helpful to the lonely pilot include air
traffic control. Even with a plethora of satellite-delivered weather available in the cockpit, I find myself
during particularly hairy weather situations asking
ATC for advice on whether to zig or zag. On more than
one occasion, I have been ready to divert to an alternate when a controller has offered a suggestion that
conditions just ahead are improving and that aircraft
are getting through. It's my responsibility to manage
my flight-but I certainly value ATC's input.
Iron Mike, Otto, or George-pick your moniker-
but even the most basic autopilot can be a great aid
for single-pilot operations. Mine is an old single-axis
S-Tec with GPS steering. The simple autopilot flies my
Bonanza with aplomb. I must manage the ascents and
descents, but when life gets busy or tiring, the system
is worth its weight in AMUs. Most new digital autopilots include altitude capture and envelope protection,
keeping pilots from getting too slow or too fast, a danger that has led to the demise of too many.
Other weapons in the arsenal of single pilots are
good training and experience. Having fully explored
the airplane, its systems, and its flight envelope with an
instructor knowledgeable in that particular model of
airplane gives a pilot loads of confidence and capability. When things start to go wrong, flying the airplane
needs to be second nature. Good training and frequent
flying allow a pilot to push the basics of keeping the
airplane upright and on course to the back of the brain,
freeing up neurons for dealing with the emerging problem before task saturation sets in.
Finally, don't forget nonpilot passengers.
Depending on how frequently they fly with you, a wellcoached passenger can be a great help in pointing out
traffic, double checking your flight plan and frequency
entries, and even making radio calls if they've been
around enough to anticipate and understand what
ATC needs to know. Teach them to read a chart and
they can remind you of course changes. Show them
the altimeter and promise them a dollar for every time
they can point out when you are more than 200 feet off.
Feeling alone? Look around, there may be more
assistance available than you first thought.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2015