Originally Posted by
WonderBus
I agree with your statement that pilot error is now the leading cause of accidents in aviation, however what this statistic doesn’t account for is how many times pilots intervene in ‘minor’ incidents to stop the aircraft putting itself into a dangerous position.
Personally, I’ve seen an Airbus as it goes from ALT* to ALT take managed speed to MACH 0 and take all the thrust off, no explanation for it. I’ve had a DUAL ADR FAULT where the aircraft becomes fairly useless in terms of protecting itself. These are small examples and I’m sure there are many, many more. I also accept that in time these will be ironed out, but as long as Airbus are releasing OEBs and Boeing are installing faulty Alpha Protection systems, that pilots are needed as a backstop. We are faulty and full of latent errors, but at the moment everyday we make minor corrections to the automation that keep the aircraft safe.
Do I think aviation will be automated eventually? Yes. In the near future? No.
Good post and agree.
Its quite easy to imagine problems computers dont handle well by themself if no one did the software telling them what to do. I think the US Airways 1549 /Hudson wouldnt have been that miracle without pilots.
Probably pilots save more situations than crashing aircrafts.