Being Prepared for the Unexpected

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012!

I wanted to try and pick back up with this blog and the first topic is how safety is a dominant topic within Avidyne.  Our goal is to improve the safety, utility and simplicity of general aviation and I wanted to share some of the topics that we discuss internally with this broader community of active, online pilots.

As I reread my last post from April 2010 (hey, we've been really busy!) I do have some updates regarding my own flying experience and how that influences my personal opinions about flying with advanced technology.  I did get my instrument rating last year and built up about 150 hours on the G1000 on a Cessna 172/182, flew to Oshkosh as PIC in a DFC90 equipped Cirrus and recently took my first true solo cross country from Massachusetts to Iowa this past August in a Cirrus with “first generation” Entegra / STEC 55x configuration.  More recently I have been flying a Cirrus with our Entegra R9 and DFC100 equipment and to get a better appreciation for the days before glass I have been flying a PA28R where the most advanced piece of equipment in the plane is a recently installed refurbished 430W.  For fun I fly in a super decathlon so I can remember what it is like to have to look out the window for an entire flight.  My goal over the last few years has been to get some time in as many of the various configurations that pilots are flying today in order to appreciate how our customers use technology in the cockpit.

I spend a decent amount of time reading the COPA, Beech and Piper forums and I have personally benefited as a pilot by having my “head in the game” every day by reading threads across various topics.  Within Avidyne we also analyze GA accidents to try and find ways to improve the safety of the fleet.  This process has led to features such as envelope protection, straight and level and a continued focus on ease of use.  Between the forums and our internal design process it forces me to think about “what would I have done” quite often and I see other pilots engaging in those same discussions on the forums.  That prompted me to ask our team to put together a series focused on illustrating how our equipment operates in various emergency scenarios.  My intent is to get our pilots thinking about these scenarios and being prepared for them so they can effectively manage the situation.

The original Entegra system is installed on almost 4,000 aircraft and 6 years ago it was on the leading edge of avionics technology.  When we designed the Entegra R9 system we leveraged our experience with the first generation system in order to build a integrated flight display that was easier for the pilot to use, especially in an emergency situation.  The scenarios that we have put together serve two purposes:

1) no matter what system you are flying we are encouraging you to be proficient in emergency procedures specific to your avionics and aircraft,

2)  to illustrate how the technology has evolved and how this could provide some pilots with an advantage in an emergency situation.

My goal is encourage training and preparedness for emergency scenarios that could arise and to also raise awareness that the technology could be used to provide an added safety margin.

Here is a link to a scenario the team put together.

Safe flying!