An autopilot manages a pilot’s workload

YAJASI, a JAARS mission aviation partner in Indonesia, recently decided to install autopilots in its PC-6 aircraft to raise the level of safety.

Support from people like you enabled JAARS to collaborate with YAJASI in obtaining FAA certification for use of an S-TEC 3100 autopilot system in YAJASI’s PC-6 aircraft. JAARS provided the test aircraft and the pilot, Tom Beekman, for the certification process, performed by a company in Texas.

Tom flew the JAARS PC-6 from Waxhaw, North Carolina, to Texas—an eight-and-a-half-hour flight, including three stops—without the autopilot. “It was a lot of work; I was tired,” Tom said. But when he flew back, the autopilot reduced his workload, keeping him mentally refreshed and better equipped to manage flight tasks.

Not only does YAJASI now have the certification it needs to install the autopilots, but the JAARS instructors will use the new autopilot installed in our PC-6 for training.

“Making sure the pilots know how to use automation and when to use it, and when not to, will be a really good training tool,” Tom explained.

More aviation projects that made an impact:

  • renovated a Cessna 206 for SAMAir Peru
  • sent several mechanics to Haiti to help MAF Haiti do maintenance on its aircraft and mentor one of its mechanics
  • sent a mechanic to Asas de Socorro in Brazil to help with one of its aircraft
  • redesigned rock guards to better prevent damage to the wing-like structure on the tail of aircraft
  • And more!