Originally Posted by
llamaman
Having flown pre, post, and during the magenta revolution and experienced the full spectrum of technology across approx four decades worth of aircraft innovation I believe it is overly-simplistic just to blame the technology (and over-reliance on it). Crews have been routinely flying serviceable aircraft into the ground since aviation began.
The reasons vary and causes range from straightforward to vastly complex. Wherever there is human decision-making involved in a system (of any kind) there will be accidents. James Reason's 'Swiss-cheese' model is an eye-catching representation of the way that a combination of errors conspire to cause tragedy. Even this though is a simplistic view; the investigators on this one will have a hell of a job exposing all the relevant factors, and their complicated relationships, that caused this tragedy.
Those that shout "more training" and "less automation" may feel better but the picture is vastly more complicated than that. Learning from accidents like this will no doubt help safety culture to evolve but, in my opinion, the human element combined with the limits of current technology will continue to conspire and result in accidents.
I admired Bristow's optimism with their recent 'Target Zero' safety program and statement that they genuinely believe that accident rates can be reduced to zero. I'm not so sure.
Exactly Llamaman - the 'kit' has become vastly more complex yet training hours are reduced and, the task remains the same. Has there ever been a job that this new kit has made possible compared to what we had before - I doubt it somehow!