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WindSheer
3rd Feb 2017, 20:10
Am not a pilot but have excellent knowledge.

I have a great interest in human factors, and after spending many hours on the flight deck, one thing that always struck me was the perfect blend between automation and manual flight for the B757. From what I have seen the B737 300-600 had a very similar logic (and of course the 767).

I am not interested in airbus v boeing, I also know know the airbus inside out - the debate has been done to death.

My question is for pilots that have flown the 757/737 as above and are now flying e.g. the 787 or 777. What are your thoughts in comparison? I am not talking comfort and environment related stuff, just purely the human interface side of things.
From what I see, the 757 had very little to catch someone out (discounting the incredible climb performance), but do the newer machines offer more chance of error given the complexity of their systems? Appreciate that some of these systems are very useful and intuitive, but how many human error 'close calls' are you aware of.

Am sure this will make an interesting debate.....

lurkio
3rd Feb 2017, 20:15
Never flown those but have flown the 747-200 and -400.
I would trade the computers for a flight engineer any day. Ever tried to get an FMS to fix a broken bog? Besides which they occasionally buy beer and can always be relied on to find the cheapest breakfast in town.

Colours389
3rd Feb 2017, 21:33
I don't normally post here as I'm only SLF but your reply was one of the best I've read for a very long time. My eyes are still watering :)

Amadis of Gaul
3rd Feb 2017, 23:59
Am not a pilot but have excellent knowledge.



That's a good thing,too, because I, for one, AM a pilot, but my knowledge is not excellent.