The Wall Street Journal by Andy Pasztor 17 November 2013
The
observers found that in most instances, pilots were able to detect and
correct automation slip-ups before they could cascade into more serious
errors. But when pilots "have to actually hand fly" aircraft, according
to one section of the narrative describing interviews with trainers,
"they are accustomed to watching things happen…instead of being
proactive."
The
34-member committee, for example, agreed that "pilots must be provided
with opportunities to refine" manual flying skills, while receiving
enhanced training in computer complexities and automation modes. In
addition, the draft recommended training for rare but potentially
catastrophic malfunctions "for which there is no specific procedure" or
readily available checklist.
Many Aviators Have Difficulty Manually Flying Planes, Study Commissioned by FAA Finds
Commercial airline pilots have become so
dependent on automation that poor manual flying skills and failure to
master the latest changes in cockpit technology pose the greatest
hazards to passengers, an international panel of air-safety experts
warns
.
A soon-to-be-released study
commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration determined, among
other things, that "pilots sometimes rely too much on automated systems
and may be reluctant to intervene" or switch them off in unusual or
risky circumstances,
The study
found that some pilots "lack sufficient or in-depth knowledge and
skills" to properly control their plane's trajectory, partly because
"current training methods, training devices and the time allotted for
training" may be inadequate to fully master advanced automated systems.
Among
the accidents and certain categories of incidents that were examined,
roughly two-thirds of the pilots either had difficulty manually flying
planes or made mistakes using flight computers.
Relying
too heavily on computer-driven flight decks—and problems that result
when crews fail to properly keep up with changes in levels of
automation—now pose the biggest threats to airliner safety world-wide,
the study concluded. The results can range from degraded manual-flying
skills to poor decision-making to possible erosion of confidence among
some aviators when automation abruptly malfunctions or disconnects
during an emergency.
Pilot lapses and automation were implicated in the
high-profile 2009 crash of an
Air France
Airbus
A330 that stalled and went down in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228
aboard, just as they are suspected of causing last July's crash of an
Asiana Airlines Inc.Boeing
777 during a botched landing in San Francisco.
With the reliability of engines and flight
controls continuing to improve, airline pilots spend the vast majority
of their time programming and monitoring automated systems—typically
relegating manual flying to barely a few minutes during takeoffs and
right before touchdowns.
Overreliance
on automation, however, has been recognized for years as an industrywide
problem, with numerous earlier studies delving into the consequences.
The panel
also called on manufacturers to develop cockpit designs that are "more
understandable from the flightcrew's perspective" and specifically guard
against technology failures resulting from integration of various
onboard systems.
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