I find the whole subject of Automation vs Manual very interesting. I'm not a commercial pilot, only a mere (43 yr old) PPL trainee. However, I joined the pharmaceutical industry as a process operator in the mid '90's. We were trained to understand everything about the equipment we operated. Every valve and switch was operated manually and the working day was one of constant decision making and "qualified judgement". Generally speaking it took five years to properly train as an efficient/safe operator and I believe this fact entirely having been there. As time progressed automation became more and more built into the system and we were no longer to required to "make decisions". Processing was done by computers,not humans. Not only did the job become incredibly boring but our skills eroded to the point that when a potential safety critical event occurred we we were under pressure to deal with it due to lack of practice. In short I ( speaking for myself) believe I was converted from a skilled, finely tuned individual to a dormant button pusher in period of less than 10 yrs. I wouldn't dream of applying the same label to the fine men and women that fly us safely from A to B every day, indeed I don't know much ( if anything) about their workload. However, based on a different type of experience I firmly believe over-relying on automation reduces the human capacity to react appropriately when put under unexpected pressure.
Last edited by AOB9; 30th Aug 2011 at 23:28.