Originally Posted by
Easy Street
Pilot error is already
the most common cause of air transport accidents and is trending upwards as mechanical reliability improves, technology mitigates ATC errors (TCAS/GPWS/GPS etc), and safety management systems bear down upon maintenance errors and organisational factors. And many posters on here routinely decry the standards of training, the experience, the pay and the working conditions of the younger and/or foreign members of the profession.
Far from being reticent over full automation, I’d be surprised if insurers aren’t looking forward to it, if not actively investing in research to help bring it about. The Miracle on the Hudson, the Gimli Glider, and no doubt a couple of other notable human ‘saves’ (*) make us feel good about what we can do that machines can’t, but ultimately they’re consolation scores in what’s going to become an increasingly one-sided contest as sensing and computing advance.
*
Sioux City... but artificial intelligence nowadays can ‘do and learn‘ quickly enough that I suspect it could teach itself to fly on differential throttle just like Al Haynes did.
MD 11s were experimentally flown with PCA, Propulsion Controlled Airplane and it worked well but there's already hydraulic check valves that almost completely militate against another total hydraulic loss