Technology and Training

Technology and Training

 

 

Are Airline Pilots forgetting how to Fly ???

I would like to share today something very interesting regarding Human Factors and Training that currently the new technology in aviation on my personal view, all pilots flying new airplanes with the modern equipment need to focus and look at the future of human factors training as well as some more advances in technology that is very important to improve the quality of training to avoid future incidents and accidents in general and commercial aviation, so we also take a close look at some of the underlying issues of Cockpit Design.

Particularly helpful as pilots we try to understand the rapidly changing nature of aircraft design with respect to automation in both commercial and general aviation airplanes.

So, increasing automation has a dramatic impact on the role of the pilot and can change the complete nature flying. As you start evaluating how automation affects you when we read the latest accidents in general and commercial aviation why those accidents happened and how we can avoided, is a question that any person working in this profession asked all the time.

Therefore, it is very important to have a good base of knowledge in this design principles to stay away from accidents and incidents, so I believe in my particular opinion that will be an increasing emphasis on human factors and topics this issue I sharing today with all the Aviation Community on my safety blog, technological training devices will become more prevalent, because they will incorporate powerful instructional ideas that make training more effective and efficient.

Another area, I want to emphasis in which computer technology is beginning to play a big role in improving our capabilities for flight training simulation, so most simulators today are based on computer technology, as are their visual display, however computers can provide added capabilities that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of training .

Several Pilots have difficulty manually flying planes, concerning what I read on an article few days ago on a study commissioned by the FAA said the article, I want to share with all of you folks what the article defined, so Commercial Airline Pilots have become so dependent on automation that poor manual flying skills and failure to master the latest changes in cockpit technology pose the greatest hazards to passengers, an international panel of air-safety experts warns.

A soon-to-be-released study commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration determined, among other things, that "pilots sometimes rely too much on automated systems and may be reluctant to intervene" or switch them off in unusual or risky circumstances, according to a draft reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

While over the decades automation played a big part in making flying today safer than ever in the U.S. and globally, the draft highlights some downsides. The study found that some pilots "lack sufficient or in-depth knowledge and skills" to properly control their plane's trajectory, partly because "current training methods, training devices and the time allotted for training" may be inadequate to fully master advanced automated systems.

Among the accidents and certain categories of incidents that were examined, roughly two-thirds of the pilots either had difficulty manually flying planes or made mistakes using flight computers.

Relying too heavily on computer-driven flight decks—and problems that result when crews fail to properly keep up with changes in levels of automation—now poses the biggest threats to airliner safety world-wide, the study concluded. The results can range from degraded manual-flying skills to poor decision-making to possible erosion of confidence among some aviators when automation abruptly malfunctions or disconnects during an emergency.

The report is the first of its kind to meld historic data from accidents and incidents with real-time observations of working pilots, according to people familiar with the details. Instead of just focusing on training and cockpit design, the study takes a broader approach to consider pilot interactions with air-traffic controllers and other operational issues.

The observers found that in most instances, pilots were able to detect and correct automation slip-ups before they could cascade into more serious errors. But when pilots "have to actually hand fly" aircraft, according to one section of the narrative describing interviews with trainers, "they are accustomed to watching things happen…instead of being proactive."

Pilots losing control of aircraft, because of poor situational awareness or inability to grasp what their instruments and automated systems are telling them, has been identified as the primary cause in a number of crashes globally in recent years. Pilot lapses and automation were implicated in the high-profile 2009 crash of an Air France AF.FR +0.24% Airbus A330 that stalled and went down in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 aboard, just as they are suspected of causing last July's crash of an Asiana Airlines Inc. 020560.SE +0.31%  Boeing BA +0.65%  777 during a botched landing in San Francisco.

The 277-page report—written by a team of industry, labor, academic and government officials—details the hazards of excessive pilot dependence on increasingly automated and complex flight decks.

Scheduled for release by the FAA as early as this week, the findings already have prompted some agency action and are expected to be a catalyst for further moves to combat such fundamental safety gaps. The final version is basically unchanged from a September draft, according to people who have read both.

The FAA said it already has taken action on all 18 of the report's recommendations, through new rules, guidance material and research. The agency cited "advances in manual flying skills [and] improved pilot certification standards," adding that the report "validates those efforts" and the FAA would discuss the next steps on Thursday at a summit with industry leaders.

"It's an industry consensus document" that's based on data and "was so meticulously done," according to John Cox, a former airline pilot and crash investigator, who now runs an industry consulting firm. "Those are the elements that make it so powerful."

With the reliability of engines and flight controls continuing to improve, airline pilots spend the vast majority of their time programming and monitoring automated systems—typically relegating manual flying to barely a few minutes during takeoffs and right before touchdowns.

Overreliance on automation, however, has been recognized for years as an industry wide problem, with numerous earlier studies delving into the consequences.

But the latest effort stands out due to the wide-ranging collection of experts who participated. It also breaks new ground because the panel members sifted through large volumes of voluntary safety reports filed by pilots, along with additional data gathered by cockpit observers on more than 9,000 flights world-wide.

After seven years of deliberations and persistent industry arguments about which accidents and incidents ought to be considered, the document lays out some sweeping recommendations to prevent what critics have dubbed "automation addiction" in some cockpits.

The 34-member committee, for example, agreed that "pilots must be provided with opportunities to refine" manual flying skills, while receiving enhanced training in computer complexities and automation modes. In addition, the draft recommended training for rare but potentially catastrophic malfunctions "for which there is no specific procedure" or readily available checklist.

The panel also called on manufacturers to develop cockpit designs that are "more understandable from the flight crew’s perspective" and specifically guard against technology failures resulting from integration of various onboard systems.

Kathy Abbott, a senior FAA scientist and one of the committee's three co-chairs, declined to comment. In the past, she has said excessive reliance on computer aids means pilots "sometimes are not prepared to deal with non-routine situations," especially when the message from airline management and trainers "is that automated systems can do the job better" than humans.

David Mc Kenney, another co-chair and head of training programs and human-factors issues for the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilots union, said on Sunday that FAA rules prohibited him from commenting. But in the summer of 2012, he gave a mini-preview of some of the report's conclusions. Mr. Mc Kenney told an ALPA conference in Washington that instead of teaching pilots to punch in numbers and "simply how to interface with the automated systems," airlines should train aviators to effectively manage flight paths using more-realistic scenarios and the element of surprise.

The FAA is considering releasing the study's findings in conjunction with agency chief Michael Huerta's scheduled meeting this week with industry leaders to discuss voluntary safety initiatives.

The agency earlier this month completed a major rewrite of pilot-training rules mirroring some of the report's recommendations, including new requirements for teaching more-effective ways to monitor other pilots and flight instruments.

The expert panel was charged with updating an influential 1996 FAA study that examined the benefits and drawbacks of automation involving earlier, less-computerized generations of aircraft. Now, other groups and organizations are expected to conduct follow-up research based on the long-awaited findings.

According to the draft, "the definition of 'normal' pilot skills has changed over time" and "has actually increased to being a manager of systems." Concerned about the hazards of cockpit "information overload," the draft noted that several manufacturers told the panel that “today’s technology allows for too much information to be presented to the pilot." Source: The Wall Street Journal By ANDY PASZTOR Nov. 17, 2013.

This article give me the idea of building instructional benefits into traditional training technologies has a good future in the Aviation Industry , in this remarkable  article I sharing. I want to give you a sense of the human factors issues surrounding design.

So, I know there are many definition of automation, the most understandable one is stay alert all the time inside your cockpit, automation has many advantages in the cockpit.

Constantly recognize that humans can be expected to make errors in every operation too.

I hope to provide you with some brief insights into the directions Aviation is heading today , and also I confidence your interest in human performance , particularly your own , always increasing your awareness of human strengths and will make you a Safer Pilot all the time .

Remember Fly Safely!!!