automation

Flight controls free and correct?

By Dave English

You have a religion that says if I want to live, I’m going to run the checklist. Robert Hulse Last week the NTSB released lots of details on a fatal accident that will keep lawyers and human factors academics busy for years. It involves rich high-profile (newspaper publisher) passengers, an iconic Gulfstream IV jet, the failure of a basic airplane safety system and the repeated failure of basic airmanship. Maybe the best account of this two-factor crash is the online piece Deadly Failure On The Runway by McCoy and Purcell of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Fascinating reading. (The NTSB press release … Continue reading Flight controls free and correct?

Murphy was deeper than you guessed

By Dave English

“It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later.” This was written by Alfred Holt in 1877, in an engineering report on using steam engines at sea. The phrase has become known as ‘Murphy’s Law’ for reasons unclear. But the original report is deeper and more insightful than I ever would have guessed. The same paragraph also says, “Sufficient stress can hardly be laid on the advantages of simplicity.” “The human factor cannot be safely neglected in planning machinery.” “It is almost as bad to have too many parts as too … Continue reading Murphy was deeper than you guessed

Automation addiction

By Dave English

In 2011, before the Asiana B777 crash, before the UPS A300 crash, industry experts were talking about automation addiction. It’s in an excellent AP news story, Automation in the air dulls pilot skill. Think they were onto something? How do you stay sharp?  

Button Pushing

By Dave English

“A musician must practice every day. A baseball player must practice every day. Heck, even a clown has to practice. So why do pilots get to push buttons on an autopilot and consider that flying? That is not flying.”   ~ Rick Erikson, writing about automation dependency and proficiency in the June 2015 edition of Soaring magazine.