A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

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waynemcc999
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A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by waynemcc999 »


After a great burger run, my wife Cindy requested a bit of “pinch hitter” training on the autopilot. She worked on HDG mode for lateral plus ALT, PIT and VS modes for vertical control. What are your thoughts on how to progressively acquaint your non-pilot right-seaters with how to take over the aircraft if you are out of commission? What training sequence would you use… radio first, then hand flying in cruise, then autopilot? What about preparation for landing? Your thoughts?
Thanks for your insight and enjoy the flight!
Wayne, GeezerGeek Pilot
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by Boatguy »

My wife has dabbled with all of it and taken the AOPA pinch hitter course. She's memorized how to call ATC, declare an emergency and ask for help. She's comfortable enough on the radio to make departure announcements at non-towered airports. She does quite well with the ATC handoff / check-in between sectors and helps me hear when they call our tail number amidst all the other ATC traffic on several hours cross country. Hand flying she was pretty nervous, two hands on the stick and over controlling.

We're practiced a bit with the AP both in the plane and in a Redbird on the ground. She's made notes for herself about the various AP modes and she's tried them in flight, switching between NAV/HDG, ALT/VS, changing heading and descending.

I've decided to order a Redbird TD for home so I think the next step in pinch hitter training will be a lot of time with the AP on the Redbird. I'm leaning to trying to teach her how to choose a Direct To, as specified by ATC, and executing an RNAV approach. The AP will fly the RNAV all the way to the runway, so she'll just need to learn how to control power. And then there is the flare.

Assuming she could use the AP to get within 25' of the runway, then I'm thinking 2-3hrs of time with a CFI (CFI in the left seat) and she could figure out enough of when to chop the power and flare to have a survivable hard landing. The goal is to get onto the ground, saving her life, and maybe mine, not save the airplane. Given the DA40's stall characteristics I think a stall at 25' is probably a survivable hard landing. But I'm not planning to test that theory!
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waynemcc999
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by waynemcc999 »

Russ, as we discussed at lunch, this is an important topic... and you are indeed taking it seriously. Thanks for the details on the sequence of training you and Fay have underway. Cindy and I recorded a video this weekend (now in editing) of her doing more AP work and some hand flying on the home sim. We'll keep reinforcing that on both the sim and IRL, and add in more and more ATC work. I also like the idea of some basic FPL work including activating an RNAV LPV.
Good stuff... thx!
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by Rick »

I went down this same path with my wife a few years ago. She wanted to know 'just enough to be able to land' if she had to. We started by having her hand-fly in the practice area, turns and descents and how to trim for an airspeed. Thumb and index finger only on the stick, no death grips! After a few sessions she caught on, and eventually, she went up with an instructor to try a few landings. Yeah. She liked it so much she signed up for ground school and then put 80 hours in her logbook - including soloing our DA40 several times! She never took the written or did the checkride, so forever a 'student' pilot, but that experience made her quite a capable co-pilot, and we're both confident she could get us to an airport and land if needed.
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waynemcc999
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by waynemcc999 »

Rick, that's pretty ideal... kudos to you and your wife!
Thanks,
Wayne
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by Rick »

By the way, both of us love travelling vicariously through your awesome videos, so thank you, Wayne! :thumbsup:
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waynemcc999
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by waynemcc999 »

Rick wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 4:00 pm By the way, both of us love travelling vicariously through your awesome videos, so thank you, Wayne! :thumbsup:
Rick, your very kind words put a smile on my face this morning! :D
Thanks,
Wayne
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by CBeak »

My wife and I do not make a good student/instructor team. She participates in all our flights, but in our case, it has worked better for her learning to fly in the right seat with others sometimes. A friend with over 20k hours, another friend who’s a retired a United pilot, and a few other CFI’s on occasion. I have very little doubt she could reach and land safely if I were incapacitated in flight.
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waynemcc999
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by waynemcc999 »

CBeak wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 8:54 pm My wife and I do not make a good student/instructor team. She participates in all our flights, but in our case, it has worked better for her learning to fly in the right seat with others sometimes. A friend with over 20k hours, another friend who’s a retired a United pilot, and a few other CFI’s on occasion. I have very little doubt she could reach and land safely if I were incapacitated in flight.
Mike, that's very cool that you and your wife have found an equation (even without you in the front ;) ) that works.
Wayne
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Re: A Taste of Autopilot on Return from Kern Valley

Post by rdrobson »

waynemcc999 wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 10:05 pm\What training sequence would you use… radio first, then hand flying in cruise, then autopilot? What about preparation for landing? Your thoughts?
My wife just did a pinch hitter course this past weekend. The emphasis focused on first verifying that the autopilot was on, then putting it in heading mode and altitude hold mode. Next adjusting the thrust to a nominal value that worked for virtually all phases of flight, contacting ATC and asking them for vectors to a VFR ILS with a 20 mile straight in approach, loading/activating the approach and then letting the autopilot do its thing as she reconfigured the aircraft with flaps and landing gear. I was surprised with how well this went and she was putting the aircraft down and braking in the second flight.

It seems like a lot to learn, but a good checklist with photographs makes this manageable. Also, the CFI didn't bother flaring. The landing is a little firm, but fine without a flare.

I think from a piloting standpoint, the hardest thing was controlling the aircraft at high speed after touchdown. I'm going to be working with her taxiing the aircraft first on straight sections and then around turns. The rudder pedal steering didn't come naturally.

-Ron
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