Originally Posted by
JD-EE
What do the pilots know that the computers don't already know? In fact everything the pilots see is filtered by computers. The AF447 pilots were just as blind and bereft of real data as the pilots.
Whoa there, milady! For a start, the FMC/FCUs do not have a different set of reactions programmed based on the time of day for a given location. The specifications were laid down on the understanding that during daylight hours, the pilots have an outside visual reference that the computers not only do not have, but cannot comprehend. The design assumptions also factored in that the computers cannot match the human ability to problem-solve and compensate for situational changes in real-time.
What this boils down to is that in night-time IMC, the human pilots have less of an advantage over the computers than they do in daylight hours in terms of perception, but again, the human ability to problem solve "on the fly" is still better than that of any computer system of the vintage used in modern airliners - as a reminder :
Code:
Aircraft Computer Chip H/W Development S/W Development
-------- -------- ----- --------------- ---------------
A320: ELAC Motorola Thompson-CSF Thompson-CSF
68000
SEC Intel SFENA Aerospatiale
80186 Atelier Logiciel
A3[3/4]0: FCPC Intel Aerospatiale Aerospatiale
80386 ADL Atelier Logiciel
FCSC Intel Sextant Aerospatiale
80186 Avionique Atelier Logiciel
Yes the computers have raw AoA information, which right now the pilots do not (this may change). However, I believe there are still too many variables in play to build the kind of system you're suggesting using the available technology and still get it into a certifiable state.
Fundamentally, while I understand your desire to engineer a way out of this situation, I think following that path is well-intentioned, but misguided. History has shown that nature (and the human psyche in particular) can outwit the best efforts of engineers almost every time.