The Lazy Pilots Guide To Single-Pilot IFR Success

Its all about managing your workload

You can be proud of the hard work youve put into reaching pilot statusespecially if youve gone the extra mile to
become instrument rated. Our aviation culture admires and encourages people to keep busy and work hard. We have
checklists for checking everythingoften more than once. Were told to tune and identify VOs along our route of flight!
even if were navigating with "#$! %ust because we might need them. Were often reluctant to use the autopilot for fear
that well lose our flying skills. &he work ethic is alive and well in general aviation.'
You can be proud of the hard work youve put into reaching pilot statusespecially if youve gone the extra mile to
become instrument rated. Our aviation culture admires and encourages people to keep busy and work hard. We have
checklists for checking everythingoften more than once. Were told to tune and identify VOs along our route of flight!
even if were navigating with "#$! %ust because we might need them. Were often reluctant to use the autopilot for fear
that well lose our flying skills. &he work ethic is alive and well in general aviation.
Youd think this emphasis on keeping busy and working hard is a good thing! but in my view! it can work against you in
an airplaneespecially when youre flying single(pilot )*. $ingle(pilot )* is the toughest! and busiest! %ob in all of
flying. You have to do everything that two pilots do in corporate and airline operations. #lus! when things get really tough!
you may have to deal with the added distraction of acting as cabin flight attendant for your concerned passengers.
)f youre that busy in single(pilot )*! shouldnt you plan on working a lot harder+ ,o! you should focus on working
smarterand that means avoiding unnecessary work and shifting the work you have to do from busy periods to less
busy periods. )n fact! one of your ma%or goals should be to never work too hard. You want to keep an even strain. )n )*
flying! being la-y can be a very good thing.
&he simplest thing you can do to reduce your workload is to make full use of your autopilot. )n fact! ) suggest that! like
airline and corporate pilots! you turn the autopilot on soon after takeoff and keep it on until short final. .ike many pilots! )
used to feel guilty or inade/uate when ) used the autopilot. ,ow! ) assume youre flying single(pilot )* not as a training
exercise! but to use the airplane for transportation. )f thats the case! you dont have to hand(fly to prove your piloting
skills. You should use the autopilot to prove your management skills. )n fact! in airline and corporate flying! failure to use
an autopilot is considered downright amateurish because its failing to take advantage of your resources. .ast year! there
were 01 fatal )* crashes in piston airplanes! many due to loss of control by overloaded pilots in instrument
meteorological conditions. 2very one of the loss(of(control fatalities would have been prevented if the pilot had made
proper use of the autopilot! if the plane was so e/uipped.
Other people make a big point of not trusting the autopilot. Of course! you dont want to blindly trust your autopilot. 3ny
time the autopilot isnt doing what you expect or want! %ust disconnect it and hand(fly until you have the airplane under
control! then turn it back on again.
&he same thing applies to using a "#$. )f you find the "#$ is getting between you and where you want to go with the
airplane! abandon the technology and do it the old(fashioned way. 4ut if you have it set up properly! the "#$ can be a
really big work(saver when things get hectic.
)t also pays to be picky about the type of work you do. )ts wise to spend your time doing things that have a high
probability of payoff. When youre navigating with your "#$! the time you spend tuning and identifying en route VOs
5on the remote probability that your "#$ might fail6 is misallocated. On an )* flight! theres a 7889 probability that youll
have to make an approach and landing. $o you should spend your time preparing for that certainty instead of keeping
yourself busy guarding against an improbable failure.
$mart managers dont allow themselves to get wrapped up in busywork. :any pilots were taught to write down every
new fre/uency they received so that they could always go back to an old fre/uency in case they couldnt make contact
on a new one. &his made sense before radios had standby fre/uency positions. With flip(flop fre/uency positions! the
radio automatically stores the old fre/uency for you. Writing the fre/uency down %ust increases your workload with little
benefit.
&he same thing goes for writing down headings and altitudes. )f you have a heading bug! you can %ust move it to the new
heading. )f you have a place to dial in the altitude on an autopilot or an altitude alerter! writing it down %ust increases your
workload.
3 big key to keeping an even strain is shifting the workload from busy times to nonbusy times. Youll be the least busy
right before takeoff. &ime spent wisely then can reap big benefits in the air. $o before you start up! get your clearance!
mark the route on your chart! load the route into your "#$ and do a predictive 3): 5receiver autonomous integrity
monitoring6. )t will also make things easier if you organi-e the charts youll need in a single small binder. )f you wait to do
all of this when youre in the run(up area with the engine running! youll feel pressure to hurry through the %ob. &hat
rushed feeling tells you that youre violating the principle of keeping an even strain.
3nother great place to take advantage of available time is during cruise. You can use cruise time productively to reduce
the workload for the rest of the flight by briefing the approach! the missed approach and the approach you think youd
most likely use at your alternate. )f you think theres a good possibility that you might use another approach at your
destination! youll want to brief that approach too.
While youre briefing your approach! load or set as much information as you can into your avionics. ;epending on the
e/uipment you have! you can load fre/uencies and courses in advance! including fre/uencies for the missed approach.
)f youre going to fly a nonprecision approach! you can reduce your workload during the approach and avoid unpleasant
surprises if you calculate in advance the rates of descent youll need between fixes. :ost nonprecision approaches
re/uire a descent angle of about 188 feet per nautical mile! which works out to about three degrees. 3t a three(degree
angle! your descent rate should be about five times your groundspeed. $o at 788 knots! youd need to descend at about
<88 feet per minute.
)f! on the other hand! you determine that on a particular segment of the approach you have to lose =88 feet per nautical
mile! then your rate of descent would have to be twice as high78 times your groundspeed! or 7!888 feet per minute. )f
you havent figured this out in advance! it means that youll either have to play catch(up ball or miss the approach. On the
other hand! if you know it in advance! things will be pretty leisurely.
3nother thing that can reduce your workload during the approach is doing a little visual tour around the approach chart in
advance. While youre briefing the approach! check what kind of visual glideslope they have! such as a V3$) or a #3#)!
so youll know what to look for and which side of the runway its on. )ts also good to check the slope angle of the lights. )f
you dont know in advance that the lights have a four(degree slope! it can leave you wondering whats wrong during your
descent.
Youll also want to check out what approach lighting system and runway lights will be available to help in that transition
from ):> to visual. 3nd if youre landing at night and there wont be a tower in operation! you need to check out how the
lights are activated. $hort final after an instrument approach is no time to try and figure out how to turn on the airport
lights.
$ave yourself a lot of pressure after landing! especially in low visibility or at night! by figuring out in advance how youll
exit the runway and get to the *4O.
When you enter the terminal area! you can use one last opportunity to get ahead of things. 3s soon as the controller
takes over your navigation by giving you a vector! you should set in the final approach course in the omnibearing selector
and set up your radios. 3nd when 3&> switches you over to the final approach control fre/uency shown on the chart! you
should tune the tower fre/uency into the standby position.
$o if you work smart instead of hard! your single(pilot instrument flight can be calm and relaxed. 3s youve seen! flying
single(pilot )* isnt about physical skillits about workload management. Workload management means using your
time and energy wisely. 3nd thats why! when it comes to single(pilot )*! being la-y can be a good thing.
?ohn @ing! along with his wife! :artha! are the best(known aviation educators in the world. ,early half of all private and
instrument students study with @ing $chools educational materials. .earn more at www.kingschools.com.