Aims To Show Benefits, Challenges Of Technologically Advanced Aircraft

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.

FMI: www.aopa.org/asf, www.cirruspilots.com