There are some things automation just
cant do:
* Fly a
bad-wx circuit to landing (well not safeley anyway)
* Fly a
bad-wx engine-out circuit to landing
* It cant judge between hazardous and safe weather
* It has no "experience" and cannot draw from it
* It cannot make a decision
* It cannot weigh up pros and cons
* It wont work without electricity
* It is
never be 100% reliable. It
can fail at
any time, and has done so in the past
* It "knows" what it knows now. It cant "see" what will happen ahead.
* It cant
firewall throttles
* It couldnt care less if it dies
* Wont let the aircraft suffer structural stress (even if its needed in order to survive)
* It cant see the tell-tale signs of potential disaster
* it cant act inteligently
* It cant see that truck on the runway.
* It cant fly manual reversion
* It cant fly with a jammed stab
* It cant ditch
* It cant land with a gear still up (it could try though!)
* Its
never has any bright ideas
* Worst of all, it cant fill out and sign the bloodey tech log!
But there are some things it
can do:
* Smash you into real estate
* Smash you into the hills
* Accept (after all the warnings/scratch-pad mssgs etc) any lies you tell it (FMC)
* Calmly fly you (with your TCAS blaring) into a mid-air collision
* Ignore ATC
* Take every piece of ADC info literaly
Just remember the DC-10 prang at Sioux City. Thats the whole argument in a nutshell.