Human pilots and autopilots need to be trusting friends.
Sir, last year, flying to Washington DC, in a Boeing 337 MAX 9, the clouds were so low that the pilot missed the first approach to land at Dulles International Airport. We passengers were instructed: “Please, please completely turn off all, absolutely all your computers, iPad cellphones and similar, even if closed or placed in air-mode. We cannot afford any type of interference. The pilot has decided he can’t land the plane, and so he will have the auto-pilot do it.”
Very long minutes of praying and checking up on co-passengers’ cellphones ensued. Finally, without having been able to see any land, thanks to God we landed.`` I asked my wife: “If they have to use the auto-pilot when things get really hard, why do they have pilots at all?”
Tim Harford answers that question in “Of top-notch algorithms and zoned-out humans” FT February 1. Harford writes: “A storm that blocked the system’s airspeed instruments with assistive fly-by-wire system that translates the pilot’s jerky movements into smooth instructions. This makes it hard to crash an A330. But paradoxically, it means that when a challenge does occur, the pilots will have very little experience to draw on as they try to meet that challenge.”
What does it indicate as a solution? Clearly humans and autopilots need to communicate faster and clearer about who is more qualified to be in command. And that means they need to be able to trust each other much more.
Sir, after the experience I described, even though I have often complained about pain over my eyes when landing with a Boeing 337 MAX 9, probably because of some issues with its air pressure control, sincerely, after that landing, tell me how could I ever complain about that Boeing plane?
@PerKurowski
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