Single Pilot 135 IFR: Are GPS & autopilot standard?

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SurfandSun

Well-Known Member
I've been flying a lot more long xc IFR night flights lately with my students as I try to get up to the 135 mins. Most the planes we fly at our school do not have an autopilot or a GPS and some barely even have much by way of lighting in the cockpit. But!! One airplane has both a gps and an autopilot and it's like heaven. (actually also has satelite radio which is pretty sweet)

As I'm now approaching part 135 IFR mins I was just wondering if most the airplanes in the part 135 IFR world of bank checks, ups feeders etc. do or do not have auto pilot and gps. Seems like the only way to go single pilot IFR all night.
 
No. Some might have autopilots, probably none flying checks. Caravans probably will have an autopilot.
But I would not call GPS or autopilot standard. For example, our metros are single pilot no autopilot no GPS.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
No. Some might have autopilots, probably none flying checks. Caravans probably will have an autopilot.
But I would not call GPS or autopilot standard. For example, our metros are single pilot no autopilot no GPS.
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Well, there is no question that it will make your scan and situational awareness second to none. Do you usually get a specific route and fly that for a while or is every day different?
 
SurfandSun said:
Well, there is no question that it will make your scan and situational awareness second to none. Do you usually get a specific route and fly that for a while or is every day different?
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Most pilots fly the same route every day. I'm a floater/standby so I don't know where I'll be one week to the next. If you have a permanent run at least on the feeder type schedule, I don't know anything about checks, you tend to memorize everything really quick.
 
Not all will have either..but most will have an autpilot as a requirement for a single pilot operation. Ive seen many ops with a GPS, but again some do not..i guess if you fly the same route all the time it isnt to big an issue.

Not really something i agree with though. If we want to increase safety, having a working autopilot and some type of GPS will do wonders to lower the workload in the cockpit, especially in a single pilot environment.

Turbine
 
Turbine said:
Not all will have either..but most will have an autpilot as a requirement for a single pilot operation. Ive seen many ops with a GPS, but again some do not..i guess if you fly the same route all the time it isnt to big an issue.

Not really something i agree with though. If we want to increase safety, having a working autopilot and some type of GPS will do wonders to lower the workload in the cockpit, especially in a single pilot environment.

Turbine
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Where is it required to have an autopilot for a single pilot freight operation?
 
It really just depends on the company. We're pretty spoiled at the 'Net with most of our aircraft having both an autopilot and a GPS. Some companies have neither, some have one or the other. There is no requirement to have an autopilot in single pilot pt. 135 freight operations.
 
Until they make those goodies a legal requirement, they won't ever be "standard" in the cargo biz. If you need them, go get a job pressing buttons in a replacement jet...
 
Again, we fly single pilot Metro's no Autopilot or GPS. It's not that hard. Personally, I fly the same route 95% of the time. If I'm flying something different I get out the charts and look up the route. I'm not denying that a GPS or autopilot would probably be a bit safer than flying without, but that does not make flying single pilot without GPS/Autopilot unsafe. Really, it's not that hard. The only thing I don't like about single pilot is taxiing around large airports, and I doubt a GPS or autopilot would help me much there. We use NOS charts at my company and the airport diagrams are horrible in the the charts for class B sized airports.
 
Yes and No.
The nicest one had F/D, EFIS,TCAS,GPWS,GPS,Coupled A/P, and an potty. Yeah I know hard to believe at AMF.

But that was just one.
 
I would have to be close to seriously peeing my pants, or worse, to consider using tar lav in those brasilias, just because you have to assume the lav hardly ever gets serviced.
 
gomntwins said:
I'm not denying that a GPS or autopilot would probably be a bit safer than flying without, but that does not make flying single pilot without GPS/Autopilot unsafe. Really, it's not that hard.
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I did it with an ADF and a pair of VORs. Do people realize that airplanes did, in fact, fly at one time without crutch's like GPS? Now we're starting to see candyass freight dogs entering our ranks.....

Amazing......

The only thing I don't like about single pilot is taxiing around large airports, and I doubt a GPS or autopilot would help me much there. We use NOS charts at my company and the airport diagrams are horrible in the the charts for class B sized airports.
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A little pre-study before flight, or enroute will at least give you a very general idea of whats where. But yes, it can get a little challenging. But hey, that's the dog's life. :)
 
MikeD said:
A little pre-study before flight, or enroute will at least give you a very general idea of whats where. But yes, it can get a little challenging. But hey, that's the dog's life. :)
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Exactly...I can only think of one time when a GPS wouldve helped during an emergency with me, besides wx radar can paint mountains if need be.
 
gomntwins said:
Again, we fly single pilot Metro's no Autopilot or GPS. It's not that hard. Personally, I fly the same route 95% of the time. If I'm flying something different I get out the charts and look up the route. I'm not denying that a GPS or autopilot would probably be a bit safer than flying without, but that does not make flying single pilot without GPS/Autopilot unsafe. Really, it's not that hard. The only thing I don't like about single pilot is taxiing around large airports, and I doubt a GPS or autopilot would help me much there. We use NOS charts at my company and the airport diagrams are horrible in the the charts for class B sized airports.
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All of our metros have autopilots. Some of them have really nice ones. The legs of the flights I do are to long not to have an autopilot!
 
JayAre said:
Exactly...I can only think of one time when a GPS wouldve helped during an emergency with me, besides wx radar can paint mountains if need be.
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Our radars worked sometimes, didn't at other times. Was up to me to know where the embedded CBs were, or the cumulogranite was. Sometimes, I got a nice surprise.

Have gone through more inadverent embedded T-storms than I've wanted to back in the freight dog days. Get into IMC, and then have things start getting progressively worse and darker. Then you get the static over the headsets which is never a good thing. Iced up so bad one time going into ABQ one night, with the ice constantly being slung into the ice shields on the nose with the resultant "slam!" noise, and the plane feeling sluggish and needing extra power. Cycling the boots regularly too. After landing and taxiing in, the lineman signals me to stop and goes forward and under the nose. I figure he's just chocking the front wheel as I shutdown, and he comes popping up in my view again holding this @2-3 inch thick bowl-shaped piece of ice that had been formed/adhered to the nosecone.....shaped like a punchbowl. Had ice on the gear struts/doors and over many of the wing/stab surfaces still. Not fun, but definitely a learning experience. Have a pic of that ice-bowl somewhere in my stuff at home.

Oh, and if someone wants to call my employer about it and report, like has recently happened to a certain CAL pilot here; this was 1995, so I think the statute of limitations is far passed.......as well as the company is long out of business. :rolleyes:
 
Were lucky to have dme, although the new panama city airport has one approach ills dme required... The rest are gps approaches, the gps is no longer becoming a luxury as most old timers will try to convey it's becoming a necessity. Despite telling my company about the dme in advanced I was having to skip a stop because I wasn't legal to shoot the approach
 
MikeD said:
I did it with an ADF and a pair of VORs. Do people realize that airplanes did, in fact, fly at one time without crutch's like GPS? Now we're starting to see candyass freight dogs entering our ranks.....

Amazing......



A little pre-study before flight, or enroute will at least give you a very general idea of whats where. But yes, it can get a little challenging. But hey, that's the dog's life. :)
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A pair of Vor's and an ADF! That's what I fly with! When they all work of course.

Yeah, studying charts ahead of time is good. The bad: when you have ATC call you and say 'your company has a re-route for you, advise ready to copy. Then, if I have time, I try to look through the airport diagram. I do make it work, but it still sucks. I still really think NOS needs to work on their airport diagrams. One time when I was at a major class B I said my NOS charts didn't depict a certain taxiway. The controller got pissed and told me I needed to have jepp plates to land there. I asked for a progressive, it all worked out. But still, I think NOS should work on their airport diagrams.
 
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