V-2 - to autopilot or not to autopilot?

[Calvin Waterbury]

As a "sim only, and you're positive it's going to remain that way for life" pilot (but one who takes sim flying pretty seriously), the way I use it is to self-test by going "manual." Then at random intervals I'll turn on all the gizmos I have and see how far off/on I am. This technique has prevented me from using GPS, etc. as a crutch. I did at first, but something Keith said last year(?) provoked me to turn them all off mid-flight once. I successfully flew the rest of the flight without incidence, but my workload went from "Ho-hum" to "Whoa!"

If anyone wants to take the "Am I Using a Crutch" test I recommend NOT starting the flight on "manual." Start with all the avionics "ON" then turn them "OFF" just before reaching TOC. Next fail everything, but one OBS/VOR just before TOC. Also, try each test flying never-before-flown DEP/ARV pairs. Get creative and push yourself and in the end you can have the confidence to know you are not using a crutch.

As I said, I am not a real-world pilot and I have some health encumbrances (mainly a gimpy noodle), BUT I am a great simpilot! How can I make such a bold statement... I never stop pushing myself into something I have never tried and I try to stick with it until I gain at least a modicum of mastery. It's a good feeling when it comes together.

Good luck!

[arb65912]

It was a very interesting discussion and as far as I understand it, it just simply varies depending on what we want to get from PE and the simulator.

I kind of have an approach that Calvin presented above, this is the reason I fly V1-V3 ratings without any IFR flying but occasional one.

In my particular case, my biggest obstacle is to be able to understand what Controller is saying ( hearing problem).

Last night I was flying VFR KSNA - KVNY and when asked , I confirmed that I was going to use MINI ROUTE for LA Class B transition.

There were two moments I did not hear properly, first I was clearing through class D while flying and I could not hear what airport was that, I pretended I did ( I know , believe me , I feel so bad when I do that but I have not too much choice).

Second time , I was told to join SMO radial and stay clear of Bravo and I have read back " Cleared through class Brave......."
Of course I was corrected immediately and the second time I read back correctly but again feeling so stupid....

I am not giving up, I will just keep using "say again" which I hate, there is too much fun flying on PE to just give up ( I was close to few times).

Anyway, I do not want to derail the thread, thank you for a great discussion.

Cheers, AJ

[ChristophPreinfalk]

Ha! That's funny, because it happened to me, too, that I didn't understand what the controller said but I pretended that I did! It had to do with Squawk Mode Charlie. Keith explained Squawk Mode Charlie to me, along with another few things, and I found that once I knew what to anticipate, I have less (or no) problems understanding the controller. I'm only practicing for V-1 right now, V-2 will be a whole new ballgame, though!

[arb65912]

I am glad I am not THE ONLY one but ... yours was just once, mine happens quite often.

Have fun with V2 and V3.

[Mark Hargrove]

The "Children of Magenta" video was floated around here on PE many months ago and I watched it back then. It's quite interesting (and at 1/4 the length of Keith's workshop's, it's a easy watch..... ).

The most important point made, I think, happens very early in the video: pick the appropriate level of automation for the task at hand. I've definitely changed the way I fly the simulator since I watched that video -- I engage the FMS (or the autopilot, in simpler airplanes) a bit later than I used to, and disengage it earlier than I used to. That said, while I completely agree that basic stick-and-rudder skills along with the ability to handle "raw" instrument inputs is critical to being a "complete" pilot, I think there is more than one way to achieve that "completeness".

When I did my real-world PPL training (out of VNY, as it happens!) I learned all the basic stick-and-rudder skills first (as is typical), got my license, flew a lot of VFR, then did my instrument training. By the time I took my instrument check ride I was probably 100 hours total time. After that, I did only enough with instrument flying to maintain currency until I stopped flying altogether (a period which lasted 30 years before I returned to "flying" with sims).

Since I started "flying" again on PE, I'm doing things completely backwards from the way my primary and then instrument training ran -- I'm flying IFR almost all the time, making heavy use of automation, and spending my focus and time on getting more and more knowledgeable about and comfortable again with the way the ATC system works. As my comfort with flying in the system grows, I'm reducing the amount of automation I use to regain the ability to fly "naked" again.

When I was flying real-world as a relatively low-time instrument-rated pilot, I could fly the plane just fine -- but I broke out into hives if ATC told me to "hold south at XXXXX intersection" and I actively avoided non-precision approaches. In the sim, now (both on PE and off), I fly non-precision approaches all the time. I frequently practice hold entries (and I don't understand at all anymore what I was so freaked out about -- they're easy). --but I use a lot of automation while I'm doing this kind of learning so that I can focus on the systems and the cross-checks first, then fly the approach, or the hold, or whatever again with less automation the next time (or the 4th time).

You can't train a student pilot this way -- you've got to be able to land the airplane safely before ANYTHING else matters much, but I think that folks here on PE who like to use automation should not feel they're "cheating" in any way. You can still become a "complete" pilot if you want to be by doing things "backwards".

-M.