So-called
"glass cockpit" aircraft deliver multiple safety benefits to general
aviation (GA) pilots and have fueled industry growth, but pilot training must
still evolve to address the safety challenges posed by Technologically Advanced
Aircraft (TAA), according to a soon-to-be-released study of accident data by
the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.
"TAA
are neither as good as proponents say nor as bad as detractors contend,"
said AOPA Air Safety Foundation Executive Director Bruce Landsberg at M5, the
fifth annual fly-in of the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA).
"These aircraft provide situational awareness tools that have dramatically
improved aspects of GA safety. But those tools are not enough to overcome a
pilot's faulty decision-making or a lack of experience in how those aircraft
are operated."
Set
to be released in July, the study analyzed accidents that occurred between 2003
and 2006 of new and existing aircraft designs that were outfitted with a glass
cockpit. Manufacturers included Beech, Cessna, Cirrus, Columbia, Diamond,
Mooney and New Piper. The study updates an earlier report published in 2004.
Landsberg
said that industry excitement over TAA has reinvigorated GA aircraft sales and
attracted more people to learn to fly. The new study finds that some TAA
capabilities such as a moving map, fuel management systems and widescreen
attitude indicator displays have helped to substantially reduce fuel management
and maneuvering flight accidents as compared to aircraft equipped with
traditional “steam gauge” instrumentation.
However,
the report shows that TAA fare worse than the non-TAA fleet in areas including
landing and go-around accidents related to the high-performance aerodynamic
design of many new aircraft. TAA accident data also were up to three times
worse than the non-TAA fleet in weather-related accidents due in part to how
many relatively new pilots use TAA in a wider range of conditions. The study
found that weather-related accidents accounted for nearly 45 percent of all
glass cockpit fatal accidents compared to 16 percent for the GA fleet.
"These
accidents are not the fault of the airplane," said Landsberg. "As the
famed aviator Antoine de Saint Exupery said, 'The machine does not isolate us
from the great problems of nature but plunges us more deeply into them.'
Instead, we as an industry are still playing catch-up on the training aspects
of TAA. We are making progress but we don't yet have all of the tools."
Among
the training challenges are teaching new pilots to be informed and efficient
"systems managers" in addition to having sound
"stick-and-rudder" skills and in using capabilities such as terrain
proximity and datalink weather displays without becoming overly reliant on the
technology.
"TAA
are a continuing positive evolution, but not a revolution, in GA," said
Landsberg. "TAA can give us better knowledge of the nature of flying. But
the technology is not a panacea because human nature is still alive and well.
We are addressing some fundamental issues in GA training but there is a lot
more to be done."
The
AOPA Air Safety Foundation is the world's largest non-profit GA safety
organization. It was founded in 1950 solely to help general aviation pilots
improve flight safety. ASF produces live seminars, online interactive courses,
training DVDs, written Safety Advisors and other aviation safety materials for
free distribution to all GA pilots.