I should submit to all of you first that I have zero experience flying an "object" not even once in my life. However, as an ex-technician, I did have several certifications on wide body aircraft ramp & transit like B777 and MD-11 so I'm kind of familiar with what we're discussing here.
Regarding the two articles & the video, I could see that the writers are disappointed by how have flight crew members become nearly overdependent on technology & automation while flying. To some extent, I could tell that the first article's writer has started losing hope in today's pilots although she confirmed the fundamental need for humans in the flight deck at the end of her article.
On the other hand, the second writer's opinion about today's pilots is that they really do a great job on air except that they don't truly fly the airplanes anymore with their hands but with computers.
Now from an aviation manager point of view, I do have two things to say about this:
First:
Let's take a look at a couple of small examples in here. A classic B747 with 400 pax on board. Can you imagine it taking off/landing in "let's say" a foggy night without, at least, an ILS or a TCAS system*? How about a helicopter equipped with no auto-vertical gyro on it??
If the answer is NO, then we have to admit the fact that the aviation industry, in all aspects, has improved a lot with automation and its effectiveness. Add to that, air transportation and pax safety has greatly transformed over the last four decades from a scary & unsafe activity to the safest means of transportation available nowadays. One of the reasons behind that is the huge implementation of auto-systems in the industry especially aircraft instrumentation. So, I think everybody agrees with me that automation must always be there, utilized, up-to-date in the cockpit & should always be improved, updated and renovated for, at least, the sake of everybody's & everyone's safety and well-being in an industry that really looks so ugly without operations' safety and quality assurance.
Second:
I positively agree with the common sense behind getting pilots into very good qualification programs that require great efforts and abilities to control planes and ensure the ultimate capabilities of pilots regardless of size or type of aircraft flown. I also believe that excellent both; authorities & private sectors, that appreciate the fact of system safety, will always be monitoring, auditing, recurring crew professionalism & performance thus ensuring operations' safety, smoothness and efficiency.
I write this with full hope and optimism in all great pilots who showed, and still showing, a very high commitment to their mission ethics as well as a truly respectful compliance with all rules, regulations & standards that govern the industry. So at this point, with no doubt, we realize the importance of the automation on board and the real duty of pilots & managers in regards with flight procedures including that over-reliance on automation. The question that still remains to be around for years to come is that how we could maintain a "perfect" relationship between pilots & their assistants (automation devices) all times at its optimum level ?**
Nice write up and I agree with both points. For future reference, you may want to integrate the link more into your discussion.
ReplyDeleteAutomation has without a doubt contributed to safety, and it will continue to evolve around the industry. On the same note automation has also contributed to tragedy in the industry as well. These new systems when functioning properly work wonders at reducing the workload for pilots. But isn't that what pilots are trained to do, manage all this information and complete a mission? Referring to your last paragraph, maybe thought should be given to implementing systems qualifications and recurrent training for new automation modules. Pilots have requirements for flight time, landings, night hrs, and much more. Why not add some requirements for the amount of training they need to complete on flight systems? Nowadays I'm almost looking at a pilots job like a sport, in where each flight is practice and gaining experience. If you make practice easier and require less work out of an athlete, they will fail to improve in their position, and in fact get worse. Could this also be true for pilots with the modern day reduced workloads and the machines doing all the information processing for them, as opposed to their brains? Something to think about.
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