Even after flying for the past thirteen years, I still get a kick out of manually steering the airplane around. But I’ve also come to understand that autopilots can be a life-saver. If you’re like me, you probably hate to relinquish the controls to a machine but there are times when you ought to take full advantage of an autopilot.

Hands-on flying is a necessary skill, and is certainly a lot of fun but it takes a good portion of brain-space away from the important task of decision making. There is only so much that the human mind can effectively process before becoming “task-saturated.” This is the point at which performance suffers because your brain can’t keep up! To stave off task saturation pilots should maximize the use of automation is high-workload environments.

Diamond with a G1000

Consider engaging the autopilot in areas of inclement weather. Sometimes the decision making process is clean cut: nasty clouds to the left, maybe we’ll go right. Other days, the choice is not so clear. By letting the autopilot fly the airplane, you can focus a little more closely on the weather and make more effective decisions en route.

Going into a busy airport? Turn that autopilot on and focus on those radio calls and keep your eyes open for traffic. A lot of airplanes are even approved for “coupled approaches” where the airplane will actually intercept a localizer and fly an instrument approach. This frees the pilot to shift to a “big-picture” focus and stay ahead of the airplane. Just a word of warning: be ready to manually intercept the final approach course. Most of the airplanes I’ve flown do a fine job of blowing through the localizer on a coupled approach.

Long cross-country flights are the perfect time to make use of the autopilot. Why fatigue yourself by wiggling the controls to keep the wings level for several hours? Turn on the autopilot and relax. You’ll be that much more alert when it comes time to land.

Anytime you feel task-saturated, consider raising the level of automation to help you catch up and stay ahead of the game. Remember, physically maneuvering the airplane is only one part of flying. Good pilots are also good decision makers, so take advantage of any tools at your disposal to increase your situational awareness and aeronautical decision making skills.

Sometimes procedures don’t work out the way they are supposed to. An over-enthusiastic autopilot served as a catalyst for one such realization. Namely, that turning the autopilot on does not relieve a pilot from the task of flying the airplane. This morning’s flight served as clear reminder of that fact.

Restricted Airspace Near Ft. Walton

Although our company profiles allow (and some would say encourage) the autopilot to be engaged at 600 feet above ground level, I normally hand fly the airplane to 10,000 feet before I consider engaging the autopilot, but today was different. Due to a high level of naval activity, restricted airspace speckles the Florida Panhandle. Furthermore, the proximity of Destin, a popular GA destination makes for a number of VFR targets that flight crews must see and avoid. In the interest of safety, I opted to reduce my workload by allowing the autopilot to do the flying bit while I focused on dodging restricted airspace and rogue Cessnas.

That was the plan anyway. Our takeoff profile requires that we rotate at Vr, pitch up 10º, then maintain an airspeed of V2+10 for the first 1000 feet. In this case, Vr was 132 knots with V2 at 139, which would require a climb speed of 149 knots.

Passing 600 feet, I called “autopilot on,” and the captain engaged the autopilot. By now, the airplane was at 160 knots, and the autopilot should have smoothly pitched up (or down) to maintain 160 knots in the climb. Much to my surprise, the aircraft pitched up aggressively, resulting in a rapid loss of airspeed as indicated by a growing trend vector on my primary flight display.

As the speed fell below 160 knots, the autopilot began to slowly pitch down. Unfortunately, the pitch moment was too slow, prompting me to disconnect the autopilot as the speed dipped below 149 knots. By the time the airspeed began to increase, we were as slow as 140 knots, just one knot above V2!

The lesson to take from this story is that the autopilot does not always behave appropriately. It is the pilot’s responsibility to monitor the situation and take corrective action if necessary. Shortly after engaging the autopilot, keep your hand on the control wheel and be ready to disconnect the autopilot and fly the airplane at a moment’s notice.

Sometimes you just have to roll the hard six. Keep your eyes open and fly safely.