Wow, thank you all so much for your responses - its one thing me, the humble student, trying to come up with ideas for a good, relevant project, but hearing the views of real pilots, engineers and the like is gold dust!
This issue of a loss of authority is very interesting. One thing that has been highlighted during my studies is how the advancement of flight-deck automation has led to concerns over the human-machine interface and the challenge of keeping the pilot "in the loop". The idea of a loss of authority seems to take this a step further, and it's clearly something which must be addressed as the advancements continue.
It ticks all the right boxes as far as I'm concerned, and there are lots of directions I could take it in. I do already have a few general ideas which fit in nicely with this subject, so it would provide a good focus to build around. Thanks again everyone for your time, every post is of help!
MW.
Last edited by MikeyWings; 28th Sep 2008 at 19:32.