Week 61: finally my blog title makes sense!

Following more days in the classroom for our CRM training, we were back in the simulator looking at automation and the flight director. Automation is an invaluable tool on the flight deck of a commercial aircraft for a number of reasons:-

• Accuracy- the computers will make the aircraft fly with a much higher degree of accuracy than a human.
• Capacity- If a human is flying the aircraft, no matter how good they are some of their mental processing capacity is used for manual control. By freeing some of this up, the brain can plan and manage the flight more effectively.
• Fatigue- even with the lightest of inputs required, human muscles would tire if expected to maintain control for long sectors, especially in circumstances of turbulence. The result of physical fatigue can be mental fatigue, at which point mental processing rapidly deteriorates.
• High altitude control- a bit complex but at higher altitudes where the air is much thinner, the aircraft is constantly sitting on the fence with regards to stability (known as coffin corner). Inputs from a human at these altitudes would likely be too severe with a resultant control issue, so the computer uses much finer inputs to give the aircraft just enough control.
• Cost- by being more accurate the autopilot will make the aircraft more efficient, and with efficiency comes a cost saving. Obviously with the operating costs sky-rocketing, anywhere money can be saved helps, so most company's encourage the use of automation whenever possible.

For the moment we've looked at automation in very simple terms, where we can tell it to fly a direction, level, and speed, but none of the flight management functions are engaged. Even though the automatics eventually lower our workload, as it's very new and we have to be comfortable with what modes are engaged, our brains are having to work harder than with manual flight. Thankfully as we become more used to the equipment mental capacity is freed up, and we're becoming better able to 'manage' the flight. Management tasks now include:-

• Talking to the cabin crew- ensuring the cabin is secure, discussing any failures, changes of plan, diversions etc.
• Negotiating with ATC- points of descent, radar vectors, procedures, emergencies etc.
• Communicating with the cabin- the dreaded PA announcements! Passengers are afterall the customer, so PA's have to be informative, concise, as well as reassuring.

With the automation an awesome system called the flight director has been brought into play. For those of you that have gone through pilot aptitude, it's basically the crosshairs test where a vertical line and a horizontal line give indication of which direction you need to move the aircraft to achieve the desired flight path. The rather blurry image on the right is of the primary flight display (PFD) on the airbus, the flight director bars being the two green ones on the artificial horizon. It's not a great picture because there's a bit of confusion, but they are saying the pilot needs to pitch the nose up, and roll the wings to the left. When the horizontal bar lines up with the black dot the pilot needs to stop pitching, and when the vertical line moves so that it goes through the dot the aircraft is in the correct angle of bank. I've made that sound very complicated, but I promise that with practice they're a great tool.

Tomorrow I start flying LOFT routes (line orientated flight training) where we fly a sortie that should mimic a real flight with the airline, in real time. For my first one I will be departing on a shuttle flight from Heathrow to Prestwick, so from a dark aircraft in west London to parking in Scotland i'm in the driving seat, responsible for the progress of the flight and all that goes with that.

In company related news, easyJet have this week posted a profit of £581million before tax! This is obviously quite a substantial amount of money to be pouring into the bank account, and perhaps in years to come if the trend continues those joining cadetships might find the airline investing a lot more in their cadets so funding becomes less of a barrier. It's too late for me, but at least i'm off to a financially healthy company. Enjoy the last week of November, and for those of you that enjoy a bit of panic it's four weeks to Christmas!