AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 26

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
Two-minute drill
Proficiency under pressure
BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN / Senior Vice President, AOPA
Air Safety Institute / AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
I'M D E PA R T I NG F R E D E R I CK Municipal Airport (FDK) in
Bonanza N4GA, AOPA's flagship aircraft. The weather is low
IFR, radios are popping at a rapid cadence in busy airspace, the
Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area to my left, presidential
TFR around Camp David to my right, and I'm anxious to get
the autopilot engaged to help me through the intensity. I'm in
the two-minute drill-the critical time for pilots in the first two
minutes after brake release-and on the backside, the last two
minutes before touchdown. The AOPA Air Safety Institute estimates
that some 70 percent of all accidents and some 40 percent
of fatal accidents happen during the two-minute drill.
In football, games are often decided in the last two minutes
of the contest. This period is so critical that teams develop specific
strategies for the last two minutes of the game. They work on
them in practice, emphasizing time management and quick-butprecise
action and reaction. Such practice sessions are known as
" two-minute drills. "
The parallels to flying are obvious, except our two-minute drill
also occurs at the start of our performance, when we're just getting
moving-physically and mentally-establishing our rhythm and our
cadence with " teammates " like air traffic controllers, and co-pilots
or other crew. It's busy, and we're frequently working at full mental
capacity to stay ahead of the airplane. Our opponents are weather,
airspace, complicated clearances, and the laws of physics. Just like
in football, we are at our best when we're ahead of our opponents,
anticipating and taking initiative to control the situation.
Autopilots offer tremendous support in the two-minute drill.
Used correctly, they take over mundane tasks and free us mentally
to move ahead of the situation and anticipate our next moves.
Used incorrectly, or relied on too much, they become a detriment
and will fly us into problems. One such problem is lack of stickand-rudder
proficiency. I realized, reflecting on my departure in
4GA, that over-reliance on the autopilot was creeping into my flying
and could result in a loss of proficiency in a flight arena where
it was most needed.
A friend who flies a high-performance turboprop is a data
wonk. He downloads data from his flights, graphs it, tables it,
studies it, and occasionally contacts me with some interesting
observations about his flying. His latest work came after watching
an ASI analysis of a couple of accidents where pilots in
26
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
high-performance airplanes lost control while obviously handflying
during the two-minute drill in demanding conditions.
My friend began wondering about his own such proficiency
hand-flying in the two-minute drill and, with a reason for a new
data hunt, he went back through graphs of his recent flights. Aircraft
performance graphs revealed the exact moment he engaged the
autopilot. On a typical three-hour flight, he was hand-flying the airplane
for a total of about two minutes, and even more concerning,
those two minutes were usually in straight, non-maneuvering flight.
He typically hand-flew the aircraft straight out on departure up to a
few hundred feet, and then again on final approach a few hundred
feet from landing. The autopilot flew most of the maneuvering on
departure, en route, and through the approach and terminal phase. I
confessed that my profile-flying 4GA loaded with the latest Garmin
avionics and autopilot-would mirror his data set.
Certainly, proficiency in working advanced avionics and using
the autopilot as a supporting tool is critical in aviation's two-minute
drill. Especially so when flying high-performance aircraft where
the tempo is fast and crisp. Football teams develop their passing
game, run game, and clock management to exacting standards in
the two-minute drill. Relying on just one of those elements isn't
enough. In aviation, our two-minute drill requires proficiency to aviate,
navigate, and communicate. We must maintain our proficiency
in hand-flying the airplane so we are comfortable flying the aircraft
exactly where we want it. Ironically, autopilots may not be available
under the most demanding flying conditions: circling approaches,
go-arounds into visual patterns, or strong turbulence, for example.
As ASI accident analyses have revealed, if we don't maintain proficiency
hand-flying in placid condtions, we will struggle to do so in
demanding conditions when the autopilot can't handle it.
Work on your two-minute drill. Maintain proficiency in
hand-flying the airplane through the departure, up to your final
cruising altitude and again starting descent, and through the
initial approach fix, on approach all the way to touchdown. The
confidence you'll gain may one day prove vital to success in a
two-minute drill, in tough conditions where one critical mistake
could be devastating.
richard.mcspadden@aopa.org
SpadMcSpadden
PropBlast
RICHARD MCSPADDEN
leads the AOPA Air Safety
Institute.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

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