Ivery much appreciated Key Dismukes' well-written and beautifully laid-out article on stress and its pragmatic advice on currency and emergency rehearsal ("Stress In The Cockpit," May). And the sidebar, "Automation Bites Back," in David Jack Kenny's article, "Lessons Not Learned" in the same issue reminded me of an accident summary that I read a year or two ago:On a foggy morning in Florida, a pilot took off from a private strip into the murk. After entering the low ceiling, the aircraft steadily descended to the crash site. Ignoring the fact that taking off in such conditions was stupid and illegal, it's interesting to contemplate the possible mechanisms.While I was helping a friend learn to use his TruTrak autopilot, I discovered that touching the central button captures heading and altitude or rate of climb. Remembering that accident, I wondered whether the pilot in Florida might have pushed the button on a similar autopilot during the takeoff roll, capturing the heading and the altitude rather than the climb rate.
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