Help wanted

Quick check—ABRXS is the active waypoint. Detective work—oh yeah, we’re still on a heading. I forgot to press Nav mode.

I make mistakes on every flight. We all do. If you haven’t forgotten to engage a mode, you’re not human. Flying a single-pilot jet, there’s no one else to catch my mistakes. And it’s harder to catch a mistake if I’m the one making it.

You’ve finished hours of mentoring in your jet. The empty seat next to you is great for keeping an iPad and snacks within easy reach. Or that friend or significant other, who is napping over there. But you’re still human. Wouldn’t it be great to have a second set of eyes in the right seat to catch what you don’t? Let’s talk about a couple of guests you can invite into your operational loop and how to arrange it so they are valuable help.

Instrument-rated pilots

There’s an instrument-rated private pilot or someone with a fresh commercial sitting next to you right now in the airport café—probably several low-time CFIs hanging around the airport, too. Would they like to get some exposure to jets, the ATC system, actual IFR? They can’t log the flight time, but that won’t stop them from coming along. How can they help?

• Listening to ATC, listening to your readback, and letting you know if they heard something different.
• Watching as you enter the altitude or fix into the automation. Cross-checking that you did it right.
• Checking flight mode annunciators (FMAs, scoreboard) for what’s needed.
• Checking that the aircraft does what it’s been asked.

To get this backup from a pilot who’s not qualified in the airplane, you’ll need to get them up to speed on a few things. • Explain the basic automation modes, scoreboard, and other PFD indications on your jet. Depending on their familiarity with your setup, you’re going to have to do some instructing. Side benefit: Explaining the automation to someone else, and answering their questions, will deepen your own understanding.

• Before you close the door and start engines, brief them on what you want them to do.
• When you enter a new airspeed, altitude, or mode on the flight control panel, say it out loud—cueing your assistant to check what you’ve done.
• Before you execute what you’ve entered in the “box,” ask, “How does that look to you?”—giving them time to catch your mistake before the aircraft goes its own way.

David Gyuro is a Cirrus Vision Jet pilot who flies with less experienced, non-rated pilots in the right seat. He gave me the spiel he delivers before boarding the jet: “You’re a member of the crew, so speak up if anything looks incorrect.” At the airplane, Gyuro familiarizes them with the airplane in more detail than for a nonpilot, including the briefing on emergency exits. They talk about roles and expectations for the flight: Can the right seater handle the radios? If so, they’ll work their way into it. The right seater will watch Gyuro on their first flight together. In flight, they’ll spend time talking about the coms panel and avionics.

Gyuro likes flying with right-seat assistants. They’ve caught mistakes he’s made, wrong altitude readbacks to ATC, or setting the wrong altitude into the automation. He especially likes flying with CFIs. They are used to, and good at, giving input from the right seat.

Friends and family

Your significant other, kids, or other regular riders can help from the right seat, too, even as a nonpilot. They’ve gotten good at picking out your tail number on ATC. Invite them to listen and to get involved. One immediate benefit is helping you manage side conversations. You’ll both be attuned to when to tune into the radio. Now, they can nudge you if you miss a call.

Mike Klein, a Vision Jet owner who flies a lot with family, said his daughters Leah, 13, and Layla, 11, have gotten good at parsing the altitudes, fixes, and routes mentioned by ATC: “Dad, did you get that frequency, it was…” They are adept, too, at checking the flight plan displays to verify he’s inputting the fixes correctly.

A lot of this depends on your right seater’s comfort level with being involved. Most folks seem to get more comfortable with reps in the more active role. Gyuro sees them becoming less nervous—with turbulence, for example, becoming less mysterious. A more comfortable right seater will ease your mind, too.

Ben Berman flies Citation jets and is a former airline captain, NTSB accident investigator, and NASA human factors researcher.