FLIGHT AUTOMATION AND MANUAL FLYING

Bombardier Cseries

With the rapid advancement of technology, automation in cockpits have made rapid strides and have successfully made tasks of pilots easier.Crew of the modern generation aircraft have had to put considerable effort and time in trying to understand the automation modes and remain engaged appropriately. As much as comfort the flight crews would derive in normal flight operation with the automation,the questions that all of us pilots tend to ask ourselves is what would be one's reaction if it were to degrade or fail totally. That brings out various scenarios and challenges in dealing with the failures. 

BRIEFING FOR GO-AROUND

Briefing for a go-around is essential as it is not carried out frequently and helps in the crew forming a clear mental image of sequence of actions/flow, refresh on applicable callouts,task sharing during the maneuver and on the deviation awareness.

wikipedia

This is ideally carried out prior to top of descent along with approach briefing preparation. In addition to briefing the specifics for the go-around procedure, it's an opportunity to touch upon the level of automation being used for the approach and the task sharing thereof.This will  help increase the crew awareness level with respect to the various automation modes being used.

It is also recommended by airbus as deemed practical to briefly recall the main key points of go-around and missed approach when on the final approach or after completing landing checks. Crew also shall be go-around minded all along the final approach phase and landing and avoid falling into the trap of being indecisive and not asserting to go-around.

Operators could further specify a set of conditions/situations wherein it could be recommended to crew to initiate a go-around as a policy to help crew take a step forward to be more assertive and decisive.

Do you know of your operator or others  who have gone down this path??? Kindly comment below and let us know what you think of this.

AUTOMATION -- Automation in the Cockpit

Is Automation in cockpit a boon or bane???

Increased automation in cockpits has changed radically how our cockpits look and work is carried on.

Either the automation is either too complex for human operators to comprehend, or is the information in the manuals inadequate, or is it the automation integration that seems to be the problem, or is it the lack of enough emphasis on the use of automation in the training curriculum the problem, or is it the complacency that sets in with overuse of automation and skills degeneration with overuse of automation the problem, or is the problem with operating procedures not adequately  addressing the use of automation in cockpits???

Send in your views

FLIGHT PROCEDURES -- Go-Around Minded

0. If a go-around is initiated, the flight crew must not reverse the decision and retard the throttle/thrust levers as it is proven to be detrimental to flight safety.
   Reversing a go-around decision usually is observed when the decision to reject the landing and to initiate a go-around is taken by the one crew member, but is overridden by the other crewmember.
   Runway overruns, impact with obstructions and major aircraft damage (tyre burst,wing tip scrape or post impact fire) often are the consequences of reversing an already initiated rejected landing.