Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Special Cases • FAA automation guidance and aircraft manufacturer procedures

Aircraft-specific autopilot training covering flight-director and autopilot architecture, mode selection and verification, normal operations, approach integration, disconnects, failures, manual reversion, and automation risk management.

Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Introduction

  • Schedule

    Topic:
    Time:
    System Architecture, Limitations, and Manual-Flight Baseline:
    0:40
    Flight Director, Modes, and Annunciations:
    0:50
    Engagement, Monitoring, and Normal Operations:
    0:45
    Navigation, Arrivals, and Approaches:
    0:55
    Disconnects, Abnormal Operations, and Failures:
    0:50
    Integrated Automation Scenario:
    0:30
    Planned Time:
    0:00

  • Attention Getter:

    • Present an aircraft established in a climb while the selected altitude is captured unexpectedly, then ask which mode is active, which mode is armed, what the aircraft will do next, and when the pilot should disconnect.

  • Motivator:

    • An autopilot can reduce workload only when the pilot selects the correct mode, confirms what is active and armed, monitors performance, and remains ready to take control immediately.

  • Objective:

    • Develop aircraft-specific proficiency in selecting, verifying, monitoring, and disconnecting the autopilot and flight director while maintaining manual-flight readiness and making conservative automation decisions.

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Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Materials

Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Instructor Actions

  • Part 1, System Architecture, Limitations, and Manual-Flight Baseline:

    • Assess the learner's manual-flight proficiency, instrument scan, trim use, navigation knowledge, prior automation experience, and understanding of the installed aircraft electrical and avionics systems.
    • Teach the installed autopilot's control axes, servos, sensors, computers, flight director, trim interface, navigation inputs, power sources, circuit protection, and system dependencies.
    • Review operating limitations, minimum engagement and use altitudes, required preflight tests, prohibited operations, approved approach functions, and aircraft-specific warnings and cautions.
    • Establish that automation supplements rather than replaces aircraft control, trim awareness, navigation cross-checks, and manual-flight proficiency.

  • Part 2, Flight Director, Modes, and Annunciations:

    • Distinguish the flight director from the autopilot and demonstrate how selected targets, active modes, armed modes, captured modes, and navigation sources interact.
    • Teach the installed lateral and vertical modes, including their entry conditions, capture logic, transitions, reversions, annunciations, and common incompatibilities.
    • Require the learner to use a select-confirm-monitor sequence and verbalize what is active, what is armed, what the aircraft is doing, and what it will do next.
    • Compare heading, navigation, approach, altitude, vertical-speed, indicated-airspeed, flight-level-change, pitch, and go-around functions only as applicable to the installed system.

  • Part 3, Engagement, Monitoring, and Normal Operations:

    • Demonstrate the required preflight test, engagement criteria, trim condition, control-wheel or stick checks, command inputs, mode changes, and normal disconnect methods.
    • Practice using appropriate automation during climb, cruise, descent, level-off, course interception, altitude changes, and workload-intensive phases without sacrificing the outside scan.
    • Require continuous monitoring of attitude, airspeed, altitude, course, navigation source, flight-mode annunciations, trim, and aircraft response rather than relying on command selections alone.
    • Have the learner disconnect and hand-fly periodically to preserve trim awareness, instrument scan, energy management, and immediate manual-control readiness.

  • Part 4, Navigation, Arrivals, and Approaches:

    • Practice coupling the autopilot to the appropriate navigation source only after the route, procedure, course, waypoint sequence, frequencies, and guidance are independently verified.
    • Teach intercept geometry, capture criteria, altitude constraints, mode sequencing, approach arming, glidepath or glideslope capture, missed-approach transitions, and go-around behavior as installed.
    • Introduce clearances and route changes that require the learner to manage heading, navigation, altitude, and vertical modes without programming during an unsafe workload period.
    • Require a stabilized-approach decision and timely disconnection, go-around, or missed approach whenever guidance, mode behavior, or aircraft response is uncertain.

  • Part 5, Disconnects, Abnormal Operations, and Failures:

    • Demonstrate every normal and emergency disconnect method, associated aural and visual warnings, trim response, control-force expectations, and required callouts or checklist actions.
    • Simulate mode confusion, unexpected reversion, navigation-source errors, trim warnings, runaway or mistrim indications, servo or sensor failures, electrical faults, and loss of flight-director or autopilot functions as appropriate.
    • Require the learner to maintain aircraft control, disconnect promptly, overpower only as manufacturer guidance permits, retrim, verify the failure, use the checklist, and avoid premature re-engagement.
    • Apply conservative delay, simplification, diversion, approach discontinuation, or landing decisions when automation reliability, pilot understanding, or manual-flight margins are inadequate.

  • Part 6, Integrated Automation Scenario:

    • Conduct a representative flight requiring autopilot setup, mode changes, altitude and course management, arrival preparation, an approach, and continued outside or instrument scan discipline.
    • Introduce an unexpected mode transition, navigation-source mismatch, or autopilot failure during a workload-intensive phase and require the learner to aviate, disconnect or simplify, navigate, communicate, and select a safe outcome.
    • Debrief selections, annunciation checks, monitoring, mode awareness, trim, manual intervention, workload management, and decisions using observable evidence.
    • Create an aircraft-specific recurrent-practice plan covering mode review, disconnects, manual flight, approach integration, failures, and automation-free operations.
Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Student Actions

  • Explain the installed autopilot and flight-director architecture, limitations, controls, annunciations, dependencies, and disconnect methods.
  • Complete the required preflight test and configure, engage, select, verify, monitor, and disconnect the system using aircraft-specific procedures.
  • Predict each selected mode's behavior and identify active, armed, captured, and reverted modes without relying on memory of button selections.
  • Integrate the autopilot with navigation, altitude changes, arrivals, approaches, missed approaches, and go-arounds while maintaining aircraft control and situational awareness.
  • Disconnect promptly and transition to stable manual flight whenever automation behavior is inappropriate, unreliable, or not understood.
  • Apply risk management to decide when automation should be used, simplified, disconnected, deferred, or considered unavailable for the operation.
Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Completion Standards

  • Operate the installed autopilot and flight director within aircraft and manufacturer limitations using correct preflight, engagement, mode-selection, monitoring, and disconnect procedures.
  • Correctly identify active and armed modes, navigation sources, selected targets, expected transitions, and actual aircraft response before allowing automation to continue.
  • Maintain aircraft control, trim awareness, navigation accuracy, situational awareness, and manual-flight readiness throughout automated operations.
  • Recognize automation mismatches or failures promptly and use the appropriate disconnect, reversion, checklist, communication, diversion, approach-discontinuation, or landing response.
Autopilot Operations and Automation Management Lesson Plan

Conclusion

  • Re-Motivation:

    • Autopilot proficiency is demonstrated not by keeping automation engaged, but by knowing exactly what it is doing and taking control before uncertainty becomes unsafe.

  • Closure:

    • Document the autopilot model and functions covered, modes and procedures demonstrated, abnormal events practiced, proficiency observed, remaining limitations, and recommended recurrent training.