Expert Flyer Hot Topics – Where the rubber meets the runway
Expert Flyer is featuring a special six-part Hot Topic series called, “Ask the Pilot.” Our expert, Patrick Smith, is an aviator and the author of Salon.com’s popular ASK THE PILOT air travel column. He also hosts the ASK THE PILOT resource site: www.askthepilot.com. Please enjoy this third installment of our series.
(Part 3 of 6)
Cockpit automation – Who or what is flying and landing the plane – man or machine?
Fewer than one percent of landings are “automatic.” The vast majority are flown by hand, the old fashioned way.
Why? Because in most respects automatic landings are more complicated, and more work-intensive, than those performed manually. The technology is there if you need it — for that foggy arrival in Buenos Aires with the visibility sitting at zero — but it’s anything but simple and anything but routine.
This question segues into a larger discussion about the various myths and misconceptions of cockpit automation. An analogy I like to make is one between flying and medicine: modern technology helps a pilot fly a plane the way it helps a surgeon perform an operation. Sure, some procedures are more routine than others, but never are they easy, and none are “automatic” in the way that people are led to think. And thus, a jetliner can no more “fly itself” any more than an operating room can remove a tumor or perform an organ transplant “by itself.” Continue reading →
