Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Airbus Plans to Expand Cockpit Automation

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the thank-you-very-much-mr.-roboto dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Airbus plans computerized systems that could automatically maneuver jetliners to avoid midair collisions, without pilot input, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'For the first time, flight crews of Airbus planes will be instructed and trained to rely on autopilots in most cases to escape an impending crash with another airborne aircraft. Currently, all commercial pilots are required to instantly disconnect the autopilot when they get an alert of such an emergency, and manually put their plane into a climb or descent to avoid the other aircraft. The change, which hasn't been announced yet, comes after lengthy internal Airbus debates and despite skepticism from pilot groups and even some aircraft-equipment suppliers.'"

3 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Old school by packetmon · · Score: 4, Informative
    This isn't new news...

    "Autopilot computer systems on Boeing 737s have been hit by a problem which has caused aircraft to change height without warning. It is believed that full details of the problem have been requested by the investigators into the crash of the British Midland 737 on the M1 motorway in January. One theory is that the crew were misled by cockpit instruments.

    Six incidents have been recorded by British Airways on its aircraft but the company says there has never been any danger because the crews have always checked the autopilot actions against other cockpit instruments.

    The problem occurs after a pilot enters a new height to the autopilot. The system displays the instruction, but under certain circumstances the aircraft moves to a different height and the autopilot then displays the new reading.

    One senior British Airways captain says the autopilot seems to use instructions entered earlier, even as long ago as the previous flight.

    British Airways has called the problem "random memory initiation" and says it is caused by unexpected electromagnetic conditions such as lightning, strong radar signals, or an electrical power surge. Boeing says it has no evidence of any accidents occurring because of the problems.(source: Risks Digest

    I recall reading about these dangers during the 9/11 investigation. Supposedly there were arguments leaning towards an automatic autopilot override for authorities to use in the event of something like 9/11 occurring again, the problem was just that... Too many problems and glitches with these systems. Airbus themselves have had these issues on a crash...

    China Airlines A300 Disaster

    China Airlines A300 crashed at Japan's Nagoya airport, killing 264 of 271 people on board. The most likely cause of the crash was not solely the fault of software, but the confused interactions between software and human, in this case between the 26-year old copilot of the plane who was attempting to land the plane and the autopilot of the plane.

    Two minutes before the plane was about to land, the autopilot of the plane went into take-off/go-around for reasons the investigation could not determine. In effect, this caused the autopilot to attempt to control the plane in a way that was directly opposite to what the human pilot was attempting to control.

    (Source)
    Mind you this accident was a while back, there were other issues with the systems overriding at the wrong time...
    --
    Infiltrated dot Net
  2. Re:If it stops accidents... by DSP_Geek · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nope. That was a Swiss air controller who gave instructions counter to the in-cockpit collision avoidance system.

    http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=455&id=738 632002
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2082331.st m

    On the other hand, I've worked with Aerospatiale software engineers, and I wouldn't trust them to organise a piss-up in a brewery. Comp.risks is rife with their fuckups, so I expect Great Things from this proposal.

  3. Re:If it stops accidents... by Martin+Foster · · Score: 5, Informative

    They covered this on the Discovery Channel up in Canada a few months back. The problem was not the technology, it was related to how the procedures differed between airlines and countries. In one instance the pilots of the cargo plane followed the computers directions, while the Russian pilots listened to the air control tower.

    Had both listened to the air control tower or the onboard warning systems everything would have worked. This was not the case and a midair collision ensued.