4 ms·

I am not exactly knowledgeable about airplane safety, but I feel like safety checklists are something that could be, and probably are, handled by a machine more

by fho 5y ago

I am not exactly knowledgeable about airplane safety, but I feel like safety checklists are something that could be, and probably are, handled by a machine more efficiently? I would guess that there are probably enough things on there that are constantly monitored theses days so the plane could just give you a big green "all systems nominal" light? Maybe I am just naive :-)

quest88 5y ago
Pilots still miss the light for "all systems not nominal", they only have so many brain cycles to interpret. One example that comes to mind is visual and audible alerts when you haven't put the landing gear down and the system thinks you're going to land (speed low, flaps extended, descending). Yet gear-up landings are still common in single-pilot general aviation aircraft.
- fho 5y ago
  I can see that you can easily miss that "gear up" light. I guess an alarm at that point might also not be too beneficial (you have to search for the cause of the generic (?) alarm). How about an "assistant" that calmly tells you "it seems like we are landing, but your gears are still up, wanna do something about that?". I guess acceptance for something like that will be low.
mannykannot 5y ago
I feel that there are definitely some areas where currently-available technology is not being fully exploited - things like calculating the weight and center-of-gravity position (would it measurably increase any sort of risk to put a load cell in each strut of the undercarriage?), checking the parking brake is off when accelerating above taxiing speed, and calling for an abort, before it is too late, if the acceleration on takeoff is insufficient. The inverse of your "all systems nominal" light exists, in many if not all commercial airplanes of any size, in the form of the master caution and master warning lights, but you also need to know what, specifically, is going wrong.
bronco21016 5y ago
The new Airbus 220 and 350 do this. Items that the aircraft knows about are either checked off or left unchecked depending on their state. The system won’t let you mark the checklist completed until the items are in the correct position. Most checklists have external environment variables that need to be input by the pilot and thus the need for the pilots to still interact with the checklist.

by fho 5y ago

quest88 5y ago

Pilots still miss the light for "all systems not nominal", they only have so many brain cycles to interpret. One example that comes to mind is visual and audible alerts when you haven't put the landing gear down and the system thinks you're going to land (speed low, flaps extended, descending). Yet gear-up landings are still common in single-pilot general aviation aircraft.

fho 5y ago
I can see that you can easily miss that "gear up" light. I guess an alarm at that point might also not be too beneficial (you have to search for the cause of the generic (?) alarm). How about an "assistant" that calmly tells you "it seems like we are landing, but your gears are still up, wanna do something about that?". I guess acceptance for something like that will be low.

mannykannot 5y ago

I feel that there are definitely some areas where currently-available technology is not being fully exploited - things like calculating the weight and center-of-gravity position (would it measurably increase any sort of risk to put a load cell in each strut of the undercarriage?), checking the parking brake is off when accelerating above taxiing speed, and calling for an abort, before it is too late, if the acceleration on takeoff is insufficient. The inverse of your "all systems nominal" light exists, in many if not all commercial airplanes of any size, in the form of the master caution and master warning lights, but you also need to know what, specifically, is going wrong.

bronco21016 5y ago

The new Airbus 220 and 350 do this. Items that the aircraft knows about are either checked off or left unchecked depending on their state. The system won’t let you mark the checklist completed until the items are in the correct position. Most checklists have external environment variables that need to be input by the pilot and thus the need for the pilots to still interact with the checklist.