View Full Version : Looking for link to article - please help!
jolly girl
17th Dec 2009, 23:02
I am looking for an article I received a link to last year, it discussed BALPA's concern that automation was affecting flying skills. I've been looking through the threads and doing google searches with no luck. If you could steer me to the link I would be grateful.
J.
alf5071h
18th Dec 2009, 01:39
JG, I don’t remember anything from BALPA, but there was a videoed speech by ALPA which touched on the subject. The text is in ‘It takes a Pilot’ (http://safetyforum.alpa.org/Portals/31/Images/Thurs8-6-09/KayClosingRemarks_8-6-09.htm).
For info, see ‘Ironies of Automation’ (www.bainbrdg.demon.co.uk/Papers/Ironies.html) which discusses deteriorating skills.
jolly girl
18th Dec 2009, 04:19
Yes, it was the keynote address that got me thinking about the earlier article. Excellent video, by the way, I have sent it on to friends and family encouraging them to watch it before next flight.
Woods (DD) has an eloquent way of framing the issue: "The resource of knowledgeable staff is tightening as managers misunderstand and undervalue the human contribution to successful function. Alternative modes of managing [situations] are becoming less viable as more equipment disappears... and.. the experience base for using alternative systems for managing [abnormal situations] is eroding."
I want to say the article was 2005/6 timeframe, expressed concern for deteriorating skills. I want to say I saw it in a pprune thread, either here or Rumors & News.
Cannot help with a link there, JG, but I recall BA, under the then DFO Mike ?Jeffery?, ran a course in the early 2000's called, I think, 'Enhancing Operational Integrity' (or some other buzz-speak:)) which was triggered by a spate of incidents, some serious, and largely on the 747 fleet where 'awareness' of what was programmed/happening in the wonder jet was blanking pilot awareness of same. All fleets were rightly put through the course. It was basically about the negative impact the glass cockpit with its pretty colours and buttons was having on 'traditional' pilot skills - something we have seen a lot of since, sadly.
It was an excellent wake-up call for all, and it may be possible to get the bones of the (1 day) course from someone, without, of course, the 'intimate details'?
high-flyer
21st Dec 2009, 07:40
jollygirl,
Would it be this one...
Airline pilots 'lack basic skills' | Business | The Observer (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/aug/21/theairlineindustry.uknews)
Published in the Guardian on 21st Aug 2005.
high-flyer