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Old 16th Aug 2011, 13:28
  #61 (permalink)  
Rob21
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Brazil
Age: 71
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Unprepared Autopilots

IMHO, at the present level of automation, I don't see enough reasons for an autopilot disconnection. If the solution for UAS is so simple (pitch & power), why the autopilot "refused" to hold the same pitch & power when they lost airspeed indications?

It amases me that a computer "logic" can not perform a partial autopilot disconnect, holding only attitude and power. Forget all the other stuff (navigation, altitude hold, etc...). An autopilot should not "panic" and disconnect just because of UAS. The computer still had enough data to keep the a/c flying, but it wasn't "programed" to do so...

Fill the cockpit with flashing and audio warnings, but give the pilots time to figure out what is the problem.

Autopilot is there to do exactly this: give the pilots time to do the thinking.
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