Advanced airline technology is letting pilots rely more and more on computers in the cockpit. But does that also mean their hands-on skills will slip away, leaving them less capable of dealing with a crisis?
An investigation by The Associated Press found that while fatal airline accidents have decreased dramatically in the U.S. during the last decade, reduced opportunities for flying manually could be leaving some pilots less prepared to make critical split-second decisions when they need to take the controls.
The airline industry is suffering from “automation addiction,” said Rory Kay, an airline captain and co-chairman of a Federal Aviation Administration committee on pilot training. “We’re seeing a new breed of accident with these state-of-the art planes,” he added.
The AP cited the draft version of an FAA study that says that, in 30 percent of major incidents, pilots had difficulty flying manually or made mistakes with automated controls.
Though the FAA in May proposed requiring that airlines train pilots on how to recover from a stall, other regulations are forcing pilots to cede more control to automation. That includes a rule that pilots need to use their autopilot at altitudes above 24,000 feet.
In the most recent fatal airline accident in the U.S., a crash in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. that killed 50 people, the co-pilot of a regional airliner programmed incorrect information into the plane’s computers, causing it to slow to an unsafe speed.
The startled captain responded by repeatedly pulling back on the control yoke, overriding two safety systems, when the correct procedure was to push forward.
An investigation later found there were no mechanical or structural problems that would have prevented the plane from flying if the captain had responded correctly. Instead, his actions caused the aerodynamic stall that sent the plane plummeting.
Errors by pilots, or at least shortcomings in their performance in a crisis, also were cited in the deadly crashes that year of Turkish and French airliners.
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