Originally Posted by
Volume
What is most ridulous is that in 1988 most pilots would have easily handled such situation...
There is not really any proof that
most pilots can't handle it today. AF447 investigation found 30+ previous similar incidents that were easily handled non-events vs. the one that wasn't handled - surely that
is "most" pilots easily handling such situation?
But "most" has never been all - e.g. in 1974 flight NW6231 went down killing all aboard, cause?: pitots iced up, mishandled, stalled...
Modern aircraft rely much more on automation of highly integrated systems and profit from the significaltly higher reliability of the modern systems (electronics vs. electromechanical).
At the same time pilot training has changed from basic flying perfection to efficient procedures and system management, well trained to handle any situation the engineers thought of by the best procedure.
If all goes well, safety figures go up a lot.
It is fundamental that when you engineer a system (hardware, software, training, procedures, the whole thing) to eliminate the failures that are simple, predictable, easy to understand, have happened before, what you end up with is a system that now fails in ways that are complex, hard to understand, unpredictable and new. Hopefully it's overall a safer system than before, but that doesn't always follow.