You are implying that pay-to-fly or young cadets are not able to fly, but are simply taken from the street and sat in the cockpit. No. They still have to have a licence to fly commercial passenger transport flights, which involves many months - sometimes years - of study and exams. As well as passing all these, they still have to have demonstrated sufficient skill, knowledge, and ability to control the aircraft and conduct a flight to a safe emergency landing in the event that the other pilot becomes incapacitated. And they must do this without flying into high ground, or swerving off the side or end of the runway, so they need to intelligently select a suitable airfield, with weather conditions within limits. Until a new First Officer proves this ability to the satisfaction of several very experienced training Captains, that First Officer will not be allowed to fly on line without a third safety pilot present in the cockpit.
So; the Swanwick ATC computer workstations autonomously went off-line, meaning that ATC had to go manual. The fault which caused the shut down had apparently never shown itself, despite the system having been in daily use assisting the safe control of thousands of flights per day.
So what say the 'computerphiles' now? How about passenger airliners - or any flying device without human pilot(s), suddenly shutting down, resetting, or going off-line while airborne over London, or any other habitation?
As a commercial pilot, I have been to a Swanwick ATC liaison day and seen what happens with a computer shutdown, (not for real - in their ATC simulator). Lots of very experienced human controllers get very busy all of a sudden, sorting the situation out manually, with pieces of paper.
This is a classic illustration of why computers never will be allowed to have executive control over anything directly involving human safety.
Last edited by Uplinker; 13th Dec 2014 at 12:42.