Originally Posted by
the King
While there is some validity to making sure students know all their equipment, I can't see any reason they would need to use the AP before getting a PPL. Obviously, they have to be able to shoot an approach with the AP (I believe that's in the new Inst. PTS), but that shouldn't take much. What reason do your superiors give for students needing to use an autopilot?
I agree that students should know their aircraft, but since we fly TAA, they believe that the student should be able to use full functionality of the aircraft and its systems. We have a stage exam for private students that require them to fly a cross country and divert to another airport before they can go on their solo cross country. I had a student be able to fly the cross country and divert without the autopilot and almost never touch the GPS. He failed because he could not use the autopilot, and not all the G1000 pages for cross counties. He could use basic autopilot functions like HDG and NAV, but not VNV and FLC. What rubs me the wrong way is that he could hand fly it and get to his point, but nope, you have to do it with the autopilot. When I learned how to use the autopilot, my friend and I went up and figured out how to use it. I think the reason they want them to learn everything is that some rich doctors and lawyers get new TAA and crash it right away, but that is not that factor here at a flight school that has a lot more structure.
WildSmurf