Flying skills are crucial during aircraft emergencies, but commercial airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aren’t paying enough attention to their pilots’ prowess, according to a government watchdog.
Pilots primarily rely too much on flight automation such as autopilot and their manual skills are diminishing, according to a Department of Transportation Inspector General report released Monday. But neither the airlines nor the FAA consistently ensure pilots are trained for manual control, test pilots’ skills or track how often automation is actually used.
“FAA does not have a sufficient process to assess a pilot’s ability to monitor flight deck automation systems and manual flying skills, both of which are important for handling unexpected events during flight,” the IG says.
“FAA has also not ensured that air carrier training programs adequately focus on manual flying skills,” and the agency “can and should do more to ensure that air carriers are sufficiently training their pilots” in manual flying.
Pilots’ manual control skills are critical for safe flying, despite automation’s prevalence.
“While airlines have long used automation safely to improve efficiency and reduce pilot workload, several recent accidents, including the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214, have shown that pilots who typically fly with automation can make errors when confronted with an unexpected event or transitioning to manual flying,” the IG says.
Still, the FAA “is missing important opportunities to ensure that pilots maintain skills needed to safely fly and recover in the event of a failure with flight deck automation or an unexpected event.”
Increased reliance on automation may make planes safer but it also decreases pilots’ skills.
“It is important that pilots have a good understanding of the system and make the appropriate decisions when encountering unusual situations, such as when automation fails or there is an emergency,” the IG says. “Relying too heavily on automation systems may hinder a pilot’s ability to manually fly the aircraft during unexpected events.”
“As use of automation increases, pilots have fewer opportunities to use manual flying skills,” the IG continues. “As a result, the opportunities air carrier pilots have during live operations to maintain proficiency in manual flight are limited and are likely to diminish.”
The agency and airlines “are also not tracking which training exercises are performed manually compared with those performed using automation,” the IG says. The FAA “cannot be assured that pilots receive sufficient opportunities to develop, maintain and demonstrate manual flying skills.”
In fact, the FAA even “does not have a method for determining how often pilots use manual flying skills,” the report continues, though it “estimates that automation is used 90 percent of the time in flight.”
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