022 - Instrumentation ATPL(A) (EASA 2016)

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The purpose of a flight director is to…

A
convey air traffic control information to the pilot.
B
provide an automatic landing system function.
C
automatically steer the aircraft to waypoints selected on the CDU.
D
reduce the pilots workload by presenting data in the form of control commands.

‘convey air traffic control information to the pilot’ – the FD system is not linked in any way with the information provided by the ATC.
‘provide an automatic landing system function’ – the FD is most of the time ON during Autoland, however, it is not the main system allowing the automatic landing. The systems crucial to the Autoland are the autopilot, the radio, altimeter, and the auto-throttle system.
‘automatically steer the aircraft to waypoints selected on the CDU’ – it is the autopilot’s function to automatically follow the flight plan inserted in the FMS via the CDU. The autopilot can operate without the FDs ON, so this answer option is also incorrect.
‘reduce the pilots' workload by presenting data in the form of control commands’ – the flight directors provide information for the pilot to join a desired path with the optimum attitude. When flying manually, the FD bars indicate the optimum path according to the selected modes, and this ultimately reduces their workload.

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