Originally Posted by
HeliComparator
Automation may cause accidents, but far more accidents are caused by humans flying without automation. The trick is to train to use it correctly and appropriately, not to rip it out and hand fly everything.
I can tell you this for sure. What I see when teaching in a Level D FFS helicopter simulator, irrespective of the level of experience of the crews, far more accidents happen when automation is involved, than without. To the extent that I feel like ripping out the automation and have the trainees hand fly everything. Logic tells you that automation must be safer. In the training environment, I don't see it.
Of course the opposite case sometimes applies, I feel like ripping out the controls and stowing them in the boot and have the automation do all of the flying. But, generally speaking, the outcomes are consistently better without reliance on automation. Assuming of course the basic IFR skills of being able to fly a heading, airspeed, altitude etc accurately are there; which sadly, often they are not.