Automation Debate

Automation in the cockpit is a big topic of debate lately. Are pilots losing skills? Becoming to complacent to recognize failures? Theses are some of the major questions that need answers.

Mica R. Endsley wrote Automation and Situation Awareness. He goes really in depth on the problems and that benefits of automation. He feels there are several factors that are causing problems.A couple major ones are complacency, and feedback.

Complacency causes on of the biggest problem today, many will argue. pilot tend to trust the system to much. It never seems to fail, so pilots will focus their attention on other tasks and become situationaly unaware. this is and effective coping strategy for a person's  limited attention in  a high attention environment.

Feedback can also lead to problems. It has been known that operators ignore alarms and warning that have a high tendancety to produce failures readings. the way the system provide feedback can cause problems. In some cases, information is replaced with automation that does not provide the same level of information to the pilots. Information can be hidden all together as well.

As of right now there is not standard for automation and the way it presents information to pilots. A pilot may have to learn several differn systems for several different aircraft. If and indecent ever occurs, pilots always revert to training. That may lead to a wrong reasons/action to a cue provided by the automation.

With that said, pilot can very easily be seen as computer operators rather that conventional pilots. This can refined pilot's skills in many ways. One major one is that skill based training will be more focused on computer interpretation than actual flying skills. in a since out take the pilots out of the equation of flying and put in a computer technician.

I am currently a private pilots with my instrument rating. I am also currently working on getting my commercial. all of out Cessna 172's have the G1000. It is a glass cockpit with only a few Standby instruments that are note operated by a computer. at the beginning, most of out time is concentrated on flying without the display map, weather and flight view(follow the magenta line). Now further in we use everything. Once in a while we do have to shut it down and simulate a failure. This is where you only fly by standbys. It really does take a second to get oriented. it makes you appreciate the automation.

When it is all said, I feel there are a few ways the stop complacency and keep pilots skills to conventional pilots standards. the first is training and more training. make sure that they know how to fly without automation before putting them in automation.the second is to make it mandatory that they fly by hand more often. this will keep those skills present.