Autopilots and piloting skills- A question

[hullya29]

Since I'm obsessed with autopilots at the moment, I want to get your views on this. With regard to piloting skills, that is, developing and sustaining said skills, is the mandated use of autopilots a liability or a necessity?

[glendalegoon]

IT is my view that no pilot should be allowed to use an autopilot until his ''hand flying'' skills are top notch. Thereafter the pilot should use the autopilot in compliance with regulations (eg autolands in low visibility) but maintain his hand flying skills.

[Intruder]

Mandated use of autopilots in sustained non-maneuvering flight such as at cruise in RVSM airspace is a good thing. Mandating autopilot use for Cat II and Cat III approaches is also a good thing. Otherwise, such airline mandates are increasingly becoming a liability. They only mask the lack of training and/or proficiency of a bunch of inexperienced pilots who become increasingly procedure-bound.

[AerocatS2A]

Using automation is a skill that must be maintained as much as hand flying. In fact I feel that it is harder to maintain automation skills than it is to maintain hand flying skills. In my company I see more pilots use hand flying to mask inadequate automation skills than vice versa. The get to some point on the approach where they are no longer able to get the autopilot to do what they want so they cry "visual!", disconnect the autopilot and flight director and hand fly the rest of the approach. I'm not talking about hand flying instead of being heads down programming the FMS, I'm talking about hand flying because they can't use VS and IAS modes adequately.

[hullya29]

Somehow I feel that it has got to do with the lack of understanding of autopilots. Autopilots are extremely sophisticated, and I can say this because of my background in computer engineering. The prescribed minimum level of education in my country is a passing grade in the 12th grade. I don't expect 12th grade students to understand how the FMS works.

[PAXboy]

hullya29 I suggest that it's to do with money ...


Passengers wanted to pay less money for tickets. Naturally.
Companies wanted to make more money. Naturally.
Airbus based their competitive strategy on making planes easier to fly and requiring less training.
Boeing had to follow to remain competitive.
Airlines increase the regulation of pilots (SOPs) to use automation more, so that the aircraft is flown at it's optimum for fuel and time.
Go back to point #1 and repeat ad infinitum ...

[Dont Hang Up]

Autopilots are extremely sophisticated

Autopilots are, in principle, not that sophisticated. They are a classic implementation of basic control law and were operating very successfully - even to the extent of autoland capability - long before anyone dreamed of putting a computer on an aeroplane. While modern autopilots are digital, they are still largely modelling the analogue computation of their predecessors.

The extreme sophistication of which you speak is found in the systems which now feed the autopilot with its guidance data.

[hullya29]

That's another thing. Complacency of humans.

[hullya29]

The reason why I made this thread is because I have to give a presentation on how autopilots affect a pilot's flying skills. I want to get points against the autopilot.