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> Why do you think we have pilots in airplanes? For a number of reasons. First of all, to act as a backup, assistant, babysitter, and replacement for the autop
by ilammy 6y ago
> Why do you think we have pilots in airplanes?
For a number of reasons. First of all, to act as a backup, assistant, babysitter, and replacement for the autopilot in modern planes. Exactly what GP says: to cover up for missed edge cases and unimplemented features. Autopilots are great and can do much, but not everything (yet?)
Then, there's a thing called “culpability”. You can’t blame a machine but you can blame a person when an accident does happen. Accidents can be happily resolved as “pilot error” without having to call back the entire fleet of aircraft.
Also, human passengers usually feel much more safe and calm when they know that their potentially fatal transport is controlled by a fellow human, just like them, instead of some soulless machine that can murder you all without so much as a blink if it goes awry. Some time ago elevators were not that safe and had elevator attendants, now they are safe enough for passengers to be fine with a computer controlling them.
- donw 6y ago> some soulless machine that can murder you all without so much as a blink if it goes awry. I believe this is called a "Porsche".
- EdwardDiego 6y ago> Autopilots are great and can do much, but not everything (yet?) Biggest issue with autopilots is that, well, they're part of the machine, the human comes in very important when the machine is partially crippled - we've already seen what happens to automation when critical sensors fail in the 737 Max. > You can’t blame a machine but you can blame a person when an accident does happen. Accidents can be happily resolved as “pilot error” without having to call back the entire fleet of aircraft. That's not really the case, air accident investigations won't blame the pilots just because they're there. They'll happily point out design defects, or maintenance failures, or pilot error, if it was actually a contributing cause. Of course, plane manufacturers love being able to blame the pilots when their autopilot engages Kill All Humans mode.
- donw 6y ago> Of course, plane manufacturers love being able to blame the pilots when their autopilot engages Kill All Humans mode. They really should move the switch for that feature a little farther away from the "Cabin Attendant Call" button.