There is an encouraging trend working its way into modern aircraft cockpits, a move to design the human-aircraft interface for better pilot understanding and situational awareness. Any business jet is a complex machine, and manufacturers keep adding more capabilities, which necessarily add to pilots' workloads. But this trend also requires that attention be paid to how pilots can take advantage of the new capabilities efficiently and safely.
Two airplanes that I've flown recently—the Cirrus SR20 and Gulfstream G550—are examples of super-capable yet complicated machines. The Cirrus SR20 is a sophisticated single-engine, piston-powered airplane with a Garmin G1000-based avionics suite almost exactly the same as found in Embraer's Phenom 100E and fairly recent versions of the Phenom 300. The Cirrus doesn't require a type rating under FAA regulations, although EASA rules do require type-specific training for most aircraft types, and perhaps the FAA should take a cue from its European counterpart.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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