This is the sixth in a series of articles dealing with learning to fly a Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA).  By definition, TAA does not imply a glass cockpit, but a glass cockpit does imply a TAA since almost 90% of production aircraft rolling off the assembly lines of the 5 largest general aviation manufacturers have glass cockpits that meet the TAA definition.  FT decided to devote a series to helping you learn most efficiently and most effectively in the TAA trainers that you are likely to encounter at your local airport.  Ed

 

In part 5, we discussed learning the Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) and how to plan for and respond to emergencies.  We found that the pilot will find that the skillful response to potential failure conditions will be predicated on their continual review of the POH and the checklist and practicing the response to a variety of the most common problems that could arise. 

This final installment will focus on preparing the pilot to take a FAA checkride in the TAA glass cockpit aircraft.  For the record, the list of Designated Pilot Examiners (DPE) qualified to fly these aircraft is rather limited, but the FAA is making a concerted effort to offer specific model training to them in regards to how to administer a Private Pilot and Instrument Rating Checkride.  Pilot applicants for the checkride must recognize that most of these DPEs are qualified in a wide variety of Part 135 and Part 121 aircraft including jets, many of which have featured TAA style glass cockpit panels for many years.  They may not know the intricate details of the Cirrus SR20, Diamond DA40, or the Cessna 172 G1000 that you have presented for your checkride, but they will know the common errors and how to ask the right questions and create suitable distractions for you during your ride, regardless of what aircraft and panel combination you arrive in.  The FAA has been helping them by creating special seminars about these aircraft and providing them with guidelines for the administration of these rides in what is considered a “more complex aircraft” than pilots have ever learned to fly in.

 

 

Let us look at some areas to expect on your Checkride so that you, the examiner, and the flight instructor who might read this, are all on the same page.  First of all, let us establish a general baseline of things to expect from any TAA aircraft and then we will conclude with some specific details for the G1000 and the Avidyne Entegra systems.  The practical exam for both the Private and Instrument checkride consists of two parts; an oral exam and a flight test portion.  The FAA has instructed designated examiners to look at the special emphasis areas in the front of the PTS as guidance for the things to look for on both the practical and oral portions.  The current PTS does not specifically address glass cockpit panels and autopilots per se (although I have seen drafts of the new PTS which do), but it does seek both a demonstration of system knowledge and application of that knowledge in terms of situational awareness and aeronautical decision making (ADM).  This knowledge can be demonstrated through quizzing during the oral and during flight.  The examiner will ask you questions about the systems of the aircraft and consider any question about the glass cockpit PFD and MFD fair game.  One would already expect the examiner to ask questions about the aircraft itself such as V speeds, fuel quantity and type, range, endurance, performance, oil quantity and type, and basic questions about the engine.  The question is whether they are going to ask you a series of specific question about the glass system that they would expect you to know in order to safely operate the aircraft in a variety of conditions.  Things like normal and abnormal electrical system voltage, number and location of battery(s), whether there is a vacuum system and what it does, and basic questions about the autopilot might also be expected.  The pilot applicant should be able to describe the process of placing the planned trip into the FPL function of the glass cockpit system and how that plan could be modified to divert the aircraft to an alternate destination to meet an emergency.

 

 

Once the oral examination is complete, the examiner will watch the applicant perform the preflight inspection.  The applicant must use the checklist and the examiner will ask the applicant questions about the various systems of the aircraft that they are checking, both inside and outside the cockpit.  The applicant should understand systems like the Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) installed on a Cirrus aircraft and they had better include that in the passenger and crew briefing.  Both the G1000 and the Avidyne system have a fuel range management system which must be checked at the beginning of the flight in order to make sure that the fuel onboard the aircraft matches what the fuel range system thinks is on the aircraft.  I recommend preparing the flightplan for the flight prior to starting the aircraft by inputting key waypoints for the trip into the GNS430 on the Avidyne Entegra or directly into the G1000 and then saving that into the flight plan catalog for easy recall after engine start.  This allows the applicant to focus on key checklist items after engine start rather than sitting in the parking spot for 5 minutes entering information while the engine runs.

 

The aircraft starting sequence should follow the checklist and should include a pre-start briefing including a briefing on “positive exchange of flight controls”.  The applicant should check for proper oil pressure indications immediately after engine start and then the alternators should be brought online verifying a sufficient charging voltage.  Prior to initiating taxi, the applicant should perform a brake check and then should ask the examiner to check their brakes using “positive exchange of controls”.  Once the taxi is begun, the applicant should not be distracted by any inside tasks.  The FAA cautions examiners to watch for pilots who fiddle with radios and GPS controls during taxi and to break them of this habit.  Taxi is a primary task and the applicant should focus on staying on the centerline. 

 

 

Once airborne, the applicant should initiate the assigned trip demonstrating both pilotage, dead reckoning, and electronic navigation.  The examiner is required to determine the applicant’s ability to operate ALL of the equipment installed in the aircraft presented for the checkride.  It is acceptable for the applicant to use the autopilot to maintain a specific rate of climb or airspeed and preset the unit to level-off at the pre-selected altitude.  Fully expect the examiner to fail the autopilot to determine if the candidate can hand fly the aircraft or to manage system failures while maintaining situational awareness.  The applicant should fly the aircraft like they would any other aircraft; they just need to have a good handle on the avionics and autopilot control aspects while they perform other PTS tasks.  The examiner has a plethora of generic questions they can ask in a TAA aircraft, even if they are not intimately familiar with that particular panel.  The applicant must be aware that many of these questions are asked intentionally at inopportune moments of the flight to see if the student will take the bait and become distracted.  The applicant must know that sometimes the right answer is to say “please hold that question a moment while I finish this task…”.  The examiner will be impressed if they can keep their wits about them and stay focused.  During a stage check or graduation ride, I will ask questions like this during a checklist process or when inbound to an airport terminal area to see if the student can keep on task.  Flight instructors quickly recognize this pattern and they teach to it, so the stage check feedback process does work to modify teaching techniques and thus positive learning is influenced.

 

The effective use of a TAA cockpit should include the areas discussed throughout this “Glass Class” series.  Keep your eyes moving in a logical Scanflow; don’t spend too much time staring at any one area.  Fully expect system failures during the flight as the examiner determines your ability to manage the automation.  Know the avionics and the switchology down cold so that there is no doubt that you are in charge.  If you make a mistake or forget how to perform a certain function, come up with an alternative way to accomplish the same thing, even if it is manually by using a sectional chart or using an airport facility directory.  Many students freeze up when they feel they have made a mistake and this leads to a downhill slide on the rest of the checkride because now they have fallen behind the aircraft.  This can be remedied by a good flight instructor using lots of scenarios during training, especially under a FITS training program designed especially for that TAA aircraft model.

 

For a flight test in a G1000 aircraft, there are some key things that the examiner can look for.  First, they will simulate a PFD failure by dimming the PFD using the brightness control on the PFD menu bezel key.  The applicant should respond by pressing the red reversionary button on the GMA 1347 audio panel and then directing their attention to the MFD.  Engine instrumentation is now displayed over there as well, but the moving map is lost.  The applicant should press the FPL key to bring up the flightplan in the lower right area of the screen.  If the fields displayed in that box do not show distance and ETE, then use the menu key to reassign the fields to those items.  This process takes a minute but as long as the applicant keeps up their scan flow outside the aircraft, then it can be accomplished with ease.  A failure of the magnetometer, air data computer, or AHRS is also accomplished by dimming the PFD or simply by oral quizzing while in flight.  The applicants response should be to direct their attention to the standby instruments.  The examiner should not fail systems by pulling circuit breakers.  This process is discouraged by the FAA in advisory circulars which caution about long term degradation of circuit breakers effectiveness when used as switches.

 

For a flight test in an Avidyne Entegra equipped aircraft, there are a number of key things that the examiner will look for.  First, they will look for a solid knowledge of the Garmin GNS 430 and how to get information from this unit to the PFD and MFD.  They will simulate failures of both the PFD and the MFD by dimming those units with the bezel mounted brightness controls.  The applicant should respond appropriately by referring to remaining standby instruments or by configuring the GNS 430s to display map information on one and navigation information about the flight plan on the other.  With a failure of the PFD or a failure of ADAHRS, the applicant could attempt a hot restart of that unit by stating that they would pull and reset the two circuit breakers within 10 seconds.  The examiner might be satisfied with the knowledge of what to do, or they may want the applicant to actually perform the process to see if they can do it and keep the aircraft under control.

 

Conclusion

 

You should now have a better understanding of how to prepare for a Checkride in a TAA glass cockpit aircraft.  In addition to the basic tasks called out for in the current practical test standards, the pilot must learn these avionics systems and become completely skilled at normal and emergency operation modes in order to meet the PTS standards for the certificate or rating sought.  The examiner will ask questions and seek appropriate responses demonstrating knowledge for the systems installed in the aircraft.  Preparing for this standard of examination is not difficult as long as the flight instructor has incorporated these areas into a scenario based or FITS instructional syllabus.  Pilots should seek a flight training company and a flight instructor who understands these areas and is skilled in the delivery of this training philosophy in order to avoid a costly learning curve at checkride time.  The big picture is understanding the avionics functions well enough to ward off distraction. After all, these are the aircraft of tomorrow and the examiner is just trying to make sure that pilots who fly these aircraft will be able to operate them safely.  Q