Major avionics companies see cockpit automation playing an increasing role in reducing pilot workload in commercial and general aviation aircraft. Less pilot workload should—and will—remain the focus of flight deck automation in the near term, they say.

“Simplifying pilot workload during the most critical and complex phases of flight should remain the focus of cockpit technology automation,” said Troy Brunk, president of Collins Aerospace’s avionics business. “Removing the constant, redundant, and remedial tasks allow the human pilot to focus where they excel—adapting to the unexpected variable.

“Humans excel at being able to innovate and adapt to scenarios that do not fit a pre-defined programmed situation,” added Brunk. “If the automation can remove the ‘busy work,’ the human will be better positioned to deal with scenarios that are unexpected.”

Automating various functions of the traditional “aviate, navigate, communicate” activities every pilot must perform when flying an aircraft enhances flight safety, according to Alex Bennett, director of aviation OEM and defense sales for Garmin International.

Providing automated functions such as autopilot, autothrottle control, electronic stability protection, and smart rudder bias enhances safety. The automation ensures the aircraft remains under control and within its performance envelope and this simplifies the pilot’s task of flying the aircraft and monitoring its systems.

The assisting process—often known as “simplified vehicle operation”—enables the pilot to focus on the aircraft’s position and inflight situation, said Bennett. So, in helping manage the pilot’s workload and enhancing pilot situational awareness, automated systems operating as a “digital copilot make sense.”

Over the past decade, Garmin has pioneered a series of automated control- and envelope-protecting avionics tools for general aviation aircraft, culminating in its Emergency Descent Mode, Smart Glide, and Autoland functions. They activate in response to various situational triggers sensed by the avionics—and also pilot manual input—and ensure an aircraft experiencing loss of pressurization can descend safely. Similarly, they let an aircraft in distress make a safe powered or unpowered landing, even if all on board have become incapacitated.

Garmin markets the automated avionics capabilities as its “Autonomí” suite. It also offers human error-free, text-based FAA Datacomm controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) within its G5000 integrated flight deck, enabling pilots to enter each ATC text instruction (after reading and verifying it) into the flight management system by pushing a button.

“When automation can consistently provide value to a large enough market segment without introducing increased risk, it tends to find its way into use,” said Brunk. “You will see incremental implementation of automation technologies—one, or several, functions at a time, each with its own operational benefit and business case. There are significant opportunities and needs across all aviation segments.”

Fully autonomous piloting of passenger aircraft in crewed airspace remains many years away—“beyond 2030,” according to Bennett. Regulators will not easily approve fully autonomous operation of a passenger-carrying aircraft without a pilot on board in highly trafficked airspace and over densely populated areas, particularly in the absence of a long history of safe semi-autonomously piloted operations first. Furthermore, the industry will need to consider social acceptance by the general population of fully autonomously piloted passenger flights.

Fully autonomously piloted operations of aircraft carrying only cargo and operating only in remote terrestrial or over-water areas might happen first, before 2030, according to Bennett. But before regulators allow for that, aviation will need to build an extensive, years-long record of safe one-pilot operation of aircraft in which automated control and monitoring functions serve as digital copilots.

Matthew George, CEO of autonomous-piloting start-up Merlin Labs, said regulatory conservatism prompted his company to build its entire business approach on achieving certification first for single-pilot, digital copilot-assisted operation of commercial cargo flights by small freighter aircraft. “We’re using a crawl, walk, run approach to get there,” to eventual certification for fully autonomous flight, he explained.

The strategy so far has proved successful. Without fanfare, the New Zealand CAA and the FAA approved Merlin Labs’ certification basis for its planned supplemental type certificate (STC) for digital copilot-assisted one-pilot freighters in September 2021. Not coincidentally, Merlin Labs has an active New Zealand subsidiary, and New Zealand has large sparsely populated regions and essential cargo air routes to smaller communities difficult to serve viably with two-pilot aircraft.

The company has flown five different aircraft types from its Mojave, California test base on both a semi- and fully autonomous piloted basis but with a pilot on board to monitor the systems and take control if unplanned events occur. Aircraft it has flown autonomously include the Cessna Caravan and the Beechcraft King Air 90, both popular as small freighters. Merlin expects to gain its first STC for an autonomous flight-converted aircraft in time for it to enter commercial service by the end of 2023.

Along with its technological-development work, Merlin Labs holds letters of intent with two large U.S. Part 135 operators. One—special-missions operator Dynamic Aviation—flies a fleet that includes 55 Beechcraft King Air 90s, the largest fleet of the type in the world. Its LOI with Merlin Labs calls for the conversion of the 55 King Air 90s for autonomous operations when Merlin obtains the necessary supplemental type certification.

Merlin signed its other LOI agreement with cargo carrier Ameriflight, which operates more than 130 Embraer Brasilias, Beechcraft 1900Cs, Beechcraft 99s, and Fairchild Metroliners. The LOI calls for Merlin to convert Ameriflight’s entire fleet for semi- and fully autonomous operation once it obtains the required STCs.

“You have to engage with the regulator early and have productive conversations from day one [to win certification for semi- or fully autonomously piloted flight], said George. “If you don’t, you won’t achieve the results you need to achieve.

“Lots of start-ups assume the regulator will see their point of view, but that’s not how the regulator is set up, and not how the certification system works,” he said. “You need folks with certification experience to do this. It’s a 100 percent two-way process between the regulator and the start-up.”