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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. trust the machines. by happyrabit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We will have too trust our lives more and more too machines, we already do it in hospitals...
    Machines and electronics are less subject to stress... pilots will have to share their responsabilities with electronics, it's inevitable.

    Still, we should first have a good quality check procedures on those programmers and engineers work, as a programmer myself I wouldn't trust my own code to keep me alive :)

    --
    I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
  2. Re:If it stops accidents... by uniqueUser · · Score: 5, Insightful
    wasn't there a plane crash a few years back caused by...
    As we start to automate transportation (all forms) with computers, we will always remember when the computer got it wrong. Even if the computer is better most of the time. If a man makes one mistake out of a hundred, and a computer makes one mistake out of a million, the media will will always highlight the computers faults. We will always hear "...had a person been driving..."
    --
    GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
  3. Good point... by Graboid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had a good friend who once read a story about a guy who was thrown from a car accident and walked away because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He used that example for many years as justification for NEVER wearing a seatbelt (and, ironically, he suffered a concusion from a 15 mph fender bender).

    So, humans have an incredible capacity for ignoring the facts that don't support what they want to believe. In this case, even if the computer makes the RIGHT decision and a collision is avoided, passengers will get pissed for minor injuries in a severe turn, the computer will be blamed and a massive investigations will be launched.

    And, in some cases, very senior, experienced individuals will make better decisions, but these aren't the guys that will flying the planes most of the time. They're the guys that need to train the computer systems (like chess - you need really great chess players to 'teach' the computers and, at some point, the computer will outplay the master).