Clandestino:
More correct version would be: pilots must be able to manually fly the aeroplane out of any situation automatics put it into.
Cannot agree more. If one could get that written into an FAA training standard, and into design standards, and I believe three generations of airline pilots will thank you profusely.
It would be interesting to hear what this might do to training costs ... and thus ticket costs. Ya get what ya pay for, eh?
Ian W knows of what he speaks.
I agree in general, in terms of task load and cognitive channels.
I learned well how any crew can be eventually task saturated. It was done to me, and by me, in some of the more rigorous sim training events we used to do in my squadron, a lifetime ago ... some of the best training I got.
Any of you who think you can always multitask in a highly demanding environment have forgotten your early days of instrument training where it was easily possible to break down your scan.
Yep.
There is no pilot alive who's scan cannot be broken by the right circumstances. It is how you recover from this mess that separates the men from the boys.
Yep
The term scan as I am using it refers to the multi-sensory process of acquiring information regarding your flight from all sources. It is very close in meaning to situational awareness.
Machinbird, I respectfully submit that scan (instrument / vfr / combined) is a subset of situational awareness. It is a critical part of what informs your situational awareness, but not all of it.