I'm sure many of the dinosaurs round here (
respect
) and even some of us greener types have seen automation make our lives easier in the day to day running of a sector. But who else can also cite instances where an all singing, all dancing automated system has increased workload (NATS FAST trial at TC anyone? ) There is no denying that familiarisation with a system allows for more efficient use by the controller, but how many systems now require the controller to "feed the machine", requiring more heads down time........ not providing the primary job of watching the damn radar (full time attentive flight monitoring as a certain ANS provider calls it)
AND what happens when it fails? YWG Terminal uses EXCDS/EFPS and it's quite a good system..........right up to the point where it fails in the middle of a busy arrival/departure sequence.