Event Details and Registration

Build hand-flying skills with IMC-disconnect drills, master autopilot logic, craft a proficiency plan, and earn WINGS credit.  Evaluate your skills where automation meets manual flying. Whether you fly a Cessna 172 with a KAP 140 or a Cirrus with GFC 500, or another general aviation aircraft, this session is tailored to help you master transitions, build confidence, and reduce risk. You’ll leave with a personalized proficiency plan and practical tools you can use on your next flight.

Download and review the additional documents at the end of this announcement.  Please visit the Orlando Executive Airport FAASTeam Library web site:

 https://www.fsr-inc.org/FAAST/Seminar/Notice.aspx

From Colonial Drive turn south on Rickenbacker Dr. Continue through the Fairgreen St intersection to the end of Rickenbacker Dr. and into the parking lot. Park in any available designated spot. Walk east to the Airport Administration Building.

Orlando Executive Airport (ORL)
365 Rickenbacker Dr.
Orlando, FL 32802

Rationale and Safety Statistics
General aviation accident data shows that nearly 40 percent of Part 91 mishaps involve loss of control or autopilot-related confusion. Many owner-operators equip their aircraft with sophisticated avionics but don’t fly manually often enough to stay ready for an unexpected disconnect. By tailoring this seminar to the realities of Part 91 flying—where time and budget are at a premium—we’ll help you strengthen hand-flying skills, avoid insurance increases, and reduce risk on every trip.

Why it matters

• Leaning too heavily on autopilot and FMS without regular hand-flying practice erodes stick-and-rudder skills and invites mode-selection errors.
• In single-pilot flights, seamless hand-offs between manual control and automated guidance are essential to prevent surprises in critical phases.
• Framing automation as a core Single-Pilot Resource Management tool helps offload cognitive strain when workload peaks, keeping you ahead of the airplane

Core components

• Understanding common autopilot modes and failure points in GA aircraft.
• Techniques for maintaining hand-flying proficiency: partial panel, unusual attitudes, non-precision approaches.
• Workload management using IMSAFE and PAVE to decide when to hand-fly vs. engage automation.

Learning outcomes

• Realistic autopilot-disconnect session in IMC, building stick-and-rudder habits and structured decision-making for stabilizing manual control and regaining situational awareness
• Create a currency plan that balances automated-avionics practice with manual-flying drills.
• Small-group exercise: preflight automation-failure briefing for a night IFR mission.

Teaching Points

Automation Transition & ADM

• Identify common GA autopilot modes, engage/disconnect cues, and failure points
• Execute a single-pilot IMC-disconnect drill in under a minute
• Apply IMSAFE and PAVE risk assessments under time pressure for SRM
• Design and debrief your own automation-fallback exercise

Manual-Flying Proficiency Drills

• Conduct weekend partial-panel flight exercises
• Practice unusual-attitude recovery techniques
• Hand-fly non-precision approaches end-to-end

Key Takeaways

• Transition seamlessly from autopilot to manual control with confidence
• Design a personalized, low-cost proficiency plan balancing stick-time and autopilot-time
• Use a preflight automation-failure briefing template for night-IFR missions
• Apply practical strategies to avoid mode-selection errors

For additional and background information, please visit the Orlando Executive Airport FAASTeam Library web site: https://www.fsr-inc.org/FAAST/Seminar/Notice.aspx

Thanks to Lindsey Merced at the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) for use of their Administrative Offices, to Senior FAASTeam Rep David Conrad for registration and handouts,to FAASTeam Rep and WINGSPro Eric Mason, M.D.,to FAASTeam Rep Steve Moore, to FAASTeam Rep and DRONEPro KC Sealock, to Obie Young, Florida Aviation Network, a FAASTeam Industry Member, and to John Tenney, FAASTeam Rep.