4 ms·

I am learning to fly and know a fair few in aviation, most pilots actually detest touchscreen and much prefer physical controls that are tactile and gives hard-

by omeid2 8y ago

I am learning to fly and know a fair few in aviation, most pilots actually detest touchscreen and much prefer physical controls that are tactile and gives hard-realtime feedback. If you have payed attention to the controls in a cockpit, you will see that all the switches, knobs, and levers have different sizes, shapes, texture, and tilt. That is not accidental. It helps with muscle memory and when you have to alter many many different parameters in a short span of time, knowing where to look for and getting "instant" and tactile feedback is important, that is hardly possible with touchscreen interfaces as I know them.

WalterBright 8y ago
I love that the landing gear levers have little tires on the top. It's perfect tactile feedback. The flap controls have little airfoils on the top. The cockpit is full of things like that, all learned the hard way. People are very bad at inventing intuitive interfaces. For example, aviation has standard phrases for things. Like "takeoff power" is maximum power, as that's what you use for takeoff. One day, a pilot was landing and suddenly had to abort. He yelled "takeoff power" to the copilot, who heard "take off power", and chopped power to the engines at the worst possible moment, and they crashed. The phrase was changed to "full power". How could a generation of pilots and aviation experts never notice the ambiguity inherent in "takeoff power"? But they didn't, until there was an accident.
- oftenwrong 8y ago
  An ambiguous use of the phrase "take off" was a key cause of the Tenerife Airport Disaster. >As a consequence of the accident, sweeping changes were made to international airline regulations and to aircraft. Aviation authorities around the world introduced requirements for standard phrases and a greater emphasis on English as a common working language.[13] >Air traffic instruction should not be acknowledged solely with a colloquial phrase such as "OK" or even "Roger" (which simply means the last transmission was received[58]), but with a readback of the key parts of the instruction, to show mutual understanding. The phrase "take off" is now spoken only when the actual takeoff clearance is given or when cancelling that same clearance (i.e. "cleared for take-off" or "cancel take-off clearance"). Up until that point, aircrew and controllers should use the phrase "departure" in its place, e.g. "ready for departure". Additionally, an ATC clearance given to an aircraft already lined-up on the runway must be prefixed with the instruction "hold position".[59] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144312/http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main.cfm?TabID=3&LLID=52&LLTypeID=2 https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144312/http://lessonslea...
  - WalterBright 8y ago
    My source for the anecdote was my father, who was a jet pilot for the Air Force, and spent some duty as an accident investigator. I wouldn't be surprised if the AF and civil aviation both had to learn that lesson the hard way.

by omeid2 8y ago

WalterBright 8y ago

I love that the landing gear levers have little tires on the top. It's perfect tactile feedback. The flap controls have little airfoils on the top. The cockpit is full of things like that, all learned the hard way. People are very bad at inventing intuitive interfaces. For example, aviation has standard phrases for things. Like "takeoff power" is maximum power, as that's what you use for takeoff. One day, a pilot was landing and suddenly had to abort. He yelled "takeoff power" to the copilot, who heard "take off power", and chopped power to the engines at the worst possible moment, and they crashed. The phrase was changed to "full power". How could a generation of pilots and aviation experts never notice the ambiguity inherent in "takeoff power"? But they didn't, until there was an accident.

oftenwrong 8y ago
An ambiguous use of the phrase "take off" was a key cause of the Tenerife Airport Disaster. >As a consequence of the accident, sweeping changes were made to international airline regulations and to aircraft. Aviation authorities around the world introduced requirements for standard phrases and a greater emphasis on English as a common working language.[13] >Air traffic instruction should not be acknowledged solely with a colloquial phrase such as "OK" or even "Roger" (which simply means the last transmission was received[58]), but with a readback of the key parts of the instruction, to show mutual understanding. The phrase "take off" is now spoken only when the actual takeoff clearance is given or when cancelling that same clearance (i.e. "cleared for take-off" or "cancel take-off clearance"). Up until that point, aircrew and controllers should use the phrase "departure" in its place, e.g. "ready for departure". Additionally, an ATC clearance given to an aircraft already lined-up on the runway must be prefixed with the instruction "hold position".[59] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144312/http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main.cfm?TabID=3&LLID=52&LLTypeID=2 https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144312/http://lessonslea...
- WalterBright 8y ago
  My source for the anecdote was my father, who was a jet pilot for the Air Force, and spent some duty as an accident investigator. I wouldn't be surprised if the AF and civil aviation both had to learn that lesson the hard way.