Study pilot workload during approach and landing

"Freshfighter" wrote:
1) Which fase (initial descent, ILS approach, approach stability,
flare, touchdown, taxi) of an approach and landing do you find
most difficult and why?

Flare. This is the most difficult to judge with consistency, the goal
(in my airplane) being to have the wheels touch just as the stall
warning sounds. Flaring too soon can result in a stall at some height
above the runway, with possibly damaging results. Flaring too late can
produce a 3-point, high speed landing or, worse, a nose wheel-first
landing, also with possibly damaging results.

2) Which specific tasks during approach and landing do you find most
difficult to combine?

Scanning and monitoring and seeing and avoiding traffic.

3) Which of the four primary tasks, defined below, do you find hardest
to combine during an approach and landing?

Scanning and monitoring, ATC task

4) Which of the four primary tasks are most demanding for the
pilot flying and the pilot non flying? If possible, you could also
mention some very demanding specific subtasks.

PF: scanning and monitoring
PNF: scanning and monitoring

5) Which external factors (e.g. bad wheather, disagreements with other
crewmembers) do you find the most influencing on the general pilot
workload?

Bad weather. Nothing else (besides mechanical or medical emergencies)
comes close to this as a workload-increasing factor.

6) Which parameters (length runway, slope runway, crosswind,
weather, available aids,...) do you find most important for the
difficulty of a landing?

Crosswind, wind shear and ice on the runway.

7) If you could make a suggestion to the authorities like the FAA
to alleviate the workload during approach and landing, what
would this be?

Create more straght-in LNAV/VNAV (GPS) instrument approaches.

8) If you believe important aspects are not adressed in the
questionnaire, please mention them here. Any other comments
are also welcome here.

Your questionnaire seems to concern task saturation. This is a poorly
understood factor in many aviation accidents, in my opinion. One aspect
of this is the man-machine interfaces pilots must operate during high
workload situations. The GPS navigation systems I have used are
particularly bad in this respect, but instrument panel clutter also
contributes.

Extra information; if you could provide me with general
information about yourself, this would be much appreciated:
- general aviation or commercial
- estimate of flight hours

My perspective is that of an instrument rated, private pilot flying a
light, single-engine aircraft. I usually do not have a copilot. I have
about 750 hours.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM