In the past few years, pilot qualifications to manage abnormal situations while operating large commercial jets have dominated discourse about loss of control–in flight (LOC–I). Yet reducing the risks in this accident category at the level of resilience engineering also is essential, several subject matter experts told the ALPA Safety Forum 2012, held in August in Washington by the Air Line Pilots Association, International.
“While the ultimate responsibility of flying the airplane remains with the pilots, we have learned that crews are not all adequately trained to handle these automated systems, especially in high-demand situations,” said Dave McKenney, a captain for United Airlines and ALPA’s director of pilot training programs, who moderated a session on automation. “Most operators recognize that the use of automated systems may not always reduce the workload but in fact may actually increase it and lead to error. And when an automated system fails, [we have] relied on…
