PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Autoland
Thread: Autoland
View Single Post
Old 23rd Aug 2005, 16:53
  #15 (permalink)  
Maude Charlee
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 849
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
With the exception of the events of the last month or so, the greatest percentage of fatal air accidents in recent times have happened to 3rd world operators, flying old or badly maintained equipment in regions where the modern facilities that westerners take for granted are few and far between, and where airline operations leave a great deal to be desired in terms of training and procedures.

Autoland is not going to help you in these instances. Even in the west, the great expense involved and the time taken to get it right would be of little use as the Helios accident is very much a freak occurence (cause yet to be established), and there are still many more ways to die which autoland would be of no use for at all. You also need to ensure that airports have adequate facilities to support the kit onboard the a/c (lots don't), otherwise it is just another expensive piece of electronic junk.

Despite the current crop of hi-tech pilot aids, a/c with modern kit still fly into the ground/each other because of a chain of unfortunate events and human error. Systems like GPWS/TCAS will only save your skin if it correctly identifies a hazard, generates a warning in time and the pilots react to it correctly. Sure, it prevents far more accidents than we would otherwise have without it, but technology is not infallible.
Maude Charlee is offline