Pilots are unprepared says Yahoo news....

[KHanson]

http://news.yahoo.com/pilot-automation-eyed-air-crashes-081652482.html . What do you guys/gals think...

 

[PositionAndHold]

Why do I even read the comments. This one seriously takes the cake though. At least make your comments based in reality.

Posted by Trek1701
"This reminds me of Star Trek TNG Booby Trap, where the ship gets caught in a asteroid field under some old alien power trap, the first instinct to get out of the trap is have the computer do it....after simulation after simulation it fails at the last part to get out. Until they shut everything down besides minimal life support and thrusters, no computer, zilch. The Captain was driving but that's not the point but the moral of the story is the same as this article.

Man was built imperfect by nature or God if your religious, if man builds a machine....what makes you think IT is perfect.

As the Queen said to Data in ST First Contact "You are an imperfect being created by an imperfect being"

WTF

 

[z987k]

Auttttoo mashun? Would that be the copilot or the button that says AP that tries to kill me on every approach over 200 IAS?

 

[Mark815]

Why do I even read the comments.

After you posted the trekki one I couldn't not read them. Not nearly as good as yours but I liked this one;

"It was my belief that most pilots in the U.S. were former military pilots who had extensive flight capability thanks to their years of training"

I've heard this one a lot, as I'm sure many people here have. Yep, every airline/corporate pilot is a former Airforce/Navy/Marine fighter pilot who did multiple tours in combat. It also hurts my head when I talk to people who believe that we sit up front, hand flying every second of every flight. I don't expect anything in aviation to be common knowledge, but some things should just be common sense.

 

[falconvalley]

Ok maybe that comment was noobish, but at least they didn't find a way to insert some kind a whacked out, trollish misnomer.

 

[JustinS]

Automation management is the key I think in most of these accidents, though I don't think are the exclusive blame for all these accidents... Maybe the amount of automation is causing pilots to assume too many things are happening rather than questioning many things that the autopilot/authothrottle is doing, especially at critical phases of flight. All the guys who use automation day in and day out, are there certain rituals or things that you do on every flight when it comes to automation to insure that things are working right or to avoid complacency? I'm curious to know what you guys do out there.

I think is video is appropriate here, some may have not seen this before:

After you posted the trekki one I couldn't not read them. Not nearly as good as yours but I liked this one;

"It was my belief that most pilots in the U.S. were former military pilots who had extensive flight capability thanks to their years of training"

I've heard this one a lot, as I'm sure many people here have. Yep, every airline/corporate pilot is a former Airforce/Navy/Marine fighter pilot who did multiple tours in combat. It also hurts my head when I talk to people who believe that we sit up front, hand flying every second of every flight. I don't expect anything in aviation to be common knowledge, but some things should just be common sense.

I think it is common sense. However, many people lack any common sense these days...

 

[z987k]

Automation management is the key I think in most of these accidents... Maybe the amount of automation is causing pilots to assume too many things are happening rather than questioning many things that the autopilot/authothrottle is doing, especially at critical phases of flight. All the guys who use automation day in and day out, are there certain rituals or things that you do on every flight when it comes to automation to insure that things are working right or to avoid complacency? I'm curious to know what you guys do out there.

I think is video is appropriate here, some may have not seen this before:

I think it is common sense. However, many people lack any common sense these days...

Is there a version of that video out there with sound in it? I've never seen it anywhere with sound.

 

[Mark815]

All the guys who use automation day in and day out, are there certain rituals or things that you do on every flight when it comes to automation to insure that things are working right or to avoid complacency?

I think it goes back to basics honestly. Keep a proficient scan. Whenever the autopilot is on I'm always doing a scan. I go from EIS to ensure everything engine-wise is working as it should be, then I move my attention to the instruments. Still holding the correct altitude? Navigating to the right fix still? There's been times when for some reason, the autopilot decided not to capture an airway, so we continued on a heading. Luckily we caught it because of the scan. When I fly a coupled approach in low weather, I do the same thing I do when hand flying, only the airplane is flying instead of me. Consistent scan and ensure the AP is doing what I asked of it.

Some of these media outlets, and comments, are suggesting that we put the AP on and then take a coffee break in the back while the AP is flying. I've had the AP kick off on me at odd times (recently on a coupled approach, just about to hit mins and the whole system shutoff) and it can catch you off guard, but as long as you've been scanning, you already know where you are and what the next move is. I simply went from scanning and monitoring, to scanning and hand flying to complete the approach.

 

[E_Dawg]

The author is just trying to get his piece into what is becoming a hot topic. That said yes I do think pilots are generally too dependent on automation.

 

[jynxyjoe]

Posted by Trek1701
"This reminds me of Star Trek TNG Booby Trap, where the ship gets caught in a asteroid field under some old alien power trap, the first instinct to get out of the trap is have the computer do it....after simulation after simulation it fails at the last part to get out. Until they shut everything down besides minimal life support and thrusters, no computer, zilch. The Captain was driving but that's not the point but the moral of the story is the same as this article.

Man was built imperfect by nature or God if your religious, if man builds a machine....what makes you think IT is perfect.

As the Queen said to Data in ST First Contact "You are an imperfect being created by an imperfect being"

I approve of this message!

 

[Retired in SAN]

Automation management is the key I think in most of these accidents, though I don't think are the exclusive blame for all these accidents... Maybe the amount of automation is causing pilots to assume too many things are happening rather than questioning many things that the autopilot/authothrottle is doing, especially at critical phases of flight. All the guys who use automation day in and day out, are there certain rituals or things that you do on every flight when it comes to automation to insure that things are working right or to avoid complacency? I'm curious to know what you guys do out there.

I think is video is appropriate here, some may have not seen this before:

Outstanding video. Clearly displayed common sense. Thanks for sharing.