I fly a lot of IFR in the Fall through Spring up here in Oregon. Lots of IFR training keeps me busy and the subject of single pilot piston IFR safety comes up a lot. I have a few friends who fly 121 who just think I am crazy to fly single pilot IFR in a piston. The GFC 500 is indeed a huge boost to the safety of such operations. That being said - if the GPS signal were jammed - I would likely just use the AP on HDG mode with altitude hold and head to the closest VOR/LOC/ILS where there is reasonable weather/fuel and hand fly her down. I get flying a 206 under part 135 might mandate some additional procedures for safety. The airplane is certified for single pilot IFR operations and doesn't need the AP to be legal - just enhances the safety. You can also choose higher minimums to reduce the risk. Most of the time for me - ice is the factor that prevents an IFR flight - not automation management.

This is the reason to continually be practicing hand flying these approaches. Especially in actual conditions. It is also good to know the correct button sequences for the AP but hand flying is a critical skill for being confident flying in hard IFR. I think pilots are getting lazy with automation management (I am one of them too) but I stay super proficient with the IFR flying. It is a very perishable skill. The GFC 500 is such an amazing unit but is no replacement for proficiency and good training. Compared to the old days of marker beacons, NDBs, and dual VORs - we have it made now. I foresee AI being the next step forward in GA - AI copilot/AP. We will likely see autoland and other safety features in the coming years. Hand flying like like driving or writing papers maybe a thing of the past. Anyone driven a Tesla with FSD technology ? Pretty amazing and scary.


Josh

Dog is my Copilot wrote:I fly a lot of IFR in the Fall through Spring up here in Oregon. Lots of IFR training keeps me busy and the subject of single pilot piston IFR safety comes up a lot. I have a few friends who fly 121 who just think I am crazy to fly single pilot IFR in a piston. The GFC 500 is indeed a huge boost to the safety of such operations. That being said - if the GPS signal were jammed - I would likely just use the AP on HDG mode with altitude hold and head to the closest VOR/LOC/ILS where there is reasonable weather/fuel and hand fly her down. I get flying a 206 under part 135 might mandate some additional procedures for safety. The airplane is certified for single pilot IFR operations and doesn't need the AP to be legal - just enhances the safety. You can also choose higher minimums to reduce the risk. Most of the time for me - ice is the factor that prevents an IFR flight - not automation management.

This is the reason to continually be practicing hand flying these approaches. Especially in actual conditions. It is also good to know the correct button sequences for the AP but hand flying is a critical skill for being confident flying in hard IFR. I think pilots are getting lazy with automation management (I am one of them too) but I stay super proficient with the IFR flying. It is a very perishable skill. The GFC 500 is such an amazing unit but is no replacement for proficiency and good training. Compared to the old days of marker beacons, NDBs, and dual VORs - we have it made now. I foresee AI being the next step forward in GA - AI copilot/AP. We will likely see autoland and other safety features in the coming years. Hand flying like like driving or writing papers maybe a thing of the past. Anyone driven a Tesla with FSD technology ? Pretty amazing and scary.


Josh

You hit the nail on the head with keeping proficient in all the levels of automation that you have, including raw data hand flying, it’s fun and it’s also murphys law, if you’re really good at hand flying, for some reason the gods tends to not REQUIRE you to use it lol

As for the 121 guys, don’t pay them any mind, as someone who now works in that realm MANY 121 people are not pilots as much as first officers as captains, even before their first solo they had their eyes on working at a airline as soon as possible and GA, instructing, charter…all the fun real flying flying stuff was just a stepping stone for them.

Easy trigger