Air carrier training and line operations policies should encourage pilots to fly their aircraft manually, with crews using basic threat and error management principles to determine the best circumstances for manual flight, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says.
The FAA laid out its thinking in Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) 17007, issued in early May.1
“The … FAA believes maintaining and improving the knowledge and skills needed for manual flight operations is necessary for safe flight operations,” the SAFO said, adding that the document was intended to encourage the development and implementation of training and line operations policies that ensure proficiency in manual flight operations.
For these purposes, the FAA defines manual flight operations as “managing the flight path through manual control of pitch, bank, yaw and/or thrust.” According to that definition, manual operations may be conducted with or without…
