Automation: Good or bad for pilots.

[kc1]

It seems like most pilots like a certain level of automation, because it makes life easier. But with all this talk about pilot pay, automation is really a huge part of the problem. Given the laws of supply and demand, anything that increases the supply of QUALIFIED pilots has the effect of decreasing pay (unless a union is working effectively). Automation, which is getting more advanced every day, is progressively reducing the experience and skill requirements to become a professional pilot (especially F/O). That leads to a greater supply of qualified pilots. ANd it's only getting worse. Any thoughts?

 

[dojetdriver]

It seems like most pilots like a certain level of automation, because it makes life easier. But with all this talk about pilot pay, automation is really a huge part of the problem. Given the laws of supply and demand, anything that increases the supply of QUALIFIED pilots has the effect of decreasing pay (unless a union is working effectively). Automation, which is getting more advanced every day, is progressively reducing the experience and skill requirements to become a professional pilot (especially F/O). That leads to a greater supply of qualified pilots. ANd it's only getting worse. Any thoughts?

Good, how the hell else am I going to read the paper, sleep, eat, ect.

 

[jehtplane]

It seems like most pilots like a certain level of automation, because it makes life easier. But with all this talk about pilot pay, automation is really a huge part of the problem. Given the laws of supply and demand, anything that increases the supply of QUALIFIED pilots has the effect of decreasing pay (unless a union is working effectively). Automation, which is getting more advanced every day, is progressively reducing the experience and skill requirements to become a professional pilot (especially F/O). That leads to a greater supply of qualified pilots. ANd it's only getting worse. Any thoughts?

Automation does not make you a good and qualified pilot. requirements are lower because demand for pilots to fly at low wages is high , it has nothing to do with automation.

 

[reject007]

kc1, I believe the whole point of automation is to reduce workload, stress, fatigue, etc., to prevent accidents. The trend in cockpit design is decluttering to prevent overloading of the brain, which should improve our ability to make better decisions. Also, they are being designed so that pilots get the information that they NEED-TO-KNOW at a specific time. This requires automation. I don't think automation has any bearing on professionalism or supply and demand. In my opinion, it's a level playing field, because you don't need to be a genius to be able to fly an airplane. If you're worried about your flying skills, then hand fly the thing every once in a while. I agree with you on one thing though, the industry is going down the sh!!tter.

 

[michael707767]

automation is good and bad. The worst thing about automation, and this is the fault of the pilots, is that it's creating a whole generation of what I call automation cripples. Pilots who use automation way too much, and hand fly way too little. Pilots who go autopilot on as soon as the airplane is cleaned up and wait to go autopilot off at about 500' on approach. These pilots don't have the first clue on how to hand fly an airplane anymore. I have seen pilots go tits up simply because the autothrottles are inop. I have done sims with pilots who could not fly an approach if we were down to emergency power because their crosscheck is no better than a VFR private pilot. Flew with a guy who spent ten minutes trying to build an approach to a runway we don't normally use after we were cleared for a visual approach on a CAVU day. The idea of looking for the runway and then going to land on it visually was foreign to him.

It's sad.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Mike's right on

I agree with Mike. Automation is a good thing when used by a competent pilot or crew. Automation is a killer-in-the-waiting if it becomes a necessary crutch for someone who's let his skills erode or never had the skills in the first place.

 

[Checknsix]

Well...everybody seems to be willing to point out the negative side of automation, but what we forget is the number of accidents automation has probably saved us from.

Automation allows us to sit back and see the big picture...that includes terrain avoidance, potential conflicts with other airplanes, two sets of eyes monitoring every approach instead of just the second monkey watching the first monkey keeping the little wings in the FD. I would guess that anything that we have lost in controllability of an airplane when automation is lost, has been made up in our ability to sit back and manage the flight from a broader perspective. Definitely something that was lost when cockpits went from 3 pilots to 2. That third monkey was many times, the only guy in the cockpit with the big picture in his head.

- Checknsix

 

[doh]

I use all the modes of flying! Full auto, full hand fly and the stuff in between. That way, I never have to worry in the plane or in the sim!