I just landed Colorado Heli-Ops’ Bell 505 at the Dallas convention center for Heli-Expo 2022. The helicopter will be in the HAI “Safety Zone” booth as part of a safety education campaign on pre-flight walkarounds and make/model transitions. While those are important topics, I had my own safety considerations for the fly-in. I had just picked up the helicopter from an avionics shop that had installed the new Garmin GFC 600H Flight Control System. This is an advanced three axis system with hover and instrument approach capability. I read the autopilot Flight Manual Supplement prior to arriving to pick up the helicopter in order to familiarize with all the functions and procedures of the system. After a test flight and demonstration of all the different capabilities (including a “level” button for upset recovery/IIMC recovery), it was time to fly the helicopter to Dallas for the Expo. It was a good reminder for me to review the core tenets of Automation Management, and a few accident reports related to the use of flight control systems. Studies show humans are notoriously bad at mundane tasks, including “monitoring and observing” – the primary tasks when flying with an autopilot engaged. Poor performance can be caused by human vulnerabilities such as fatigue, distractions, boredom, complacency, illness, and stress. These must be combated through self-discipline and vigilance, as well as CRM. Many automation management issues arise from small problems that go unnoticed, or become distractions that are mismanaged creating bigger problems, sometimes leading to accidents. A major problem can arise when systems do something unexpected: the pilot(s) head generally goes down right away, and may stay down until they figure out what happened. The best practice is to observe the change, but then prioritize the need to address it against other tasks before taking any further action. Many times there is a better time to address the issue, or a way to clearly assign duties while it is addressed. I noticed how easy it was for everyone’s eyes and head to go down to look at the system when we were on the test flight, trying out and evaluating the new system. It took extra effort to make sure only one person poked at the avionics at a time, and someone else always flying and looking outside.
The flight to Dallas covered some mountainous terrain and lower altitude flying to manage turbulence. In order to ensure safe aircraft control and situational awareness, these circumstances required switching the autopilot off and maneuvering by hand. Choosing when it is appropriate to use the autopilot is an important part of its management. Overall the autopilot is a great addition to the 505, and when used properly increases the pilot’s ability to manage a cross country flight with lower workload and better SA.
Check out this brief lesson on Automation Management that I wrote years ago – it uses a major accident to study the issues, and touches on how accident rates relate to aircraft automation in the fleet. It’s also on my Resources page. Consider how automation increases your performance in the helicopter – are there any times when the equipment or your familiarity actually hindered the performance instead of helping?