Extensive use of automated cockpit systems causes pilots to lose proficiency in some cognitive skills required for manually flying an airplane — such as keeping track of aircraft position without using a map display — although other skills remain relatively intact over a long period of time, a new study says.
The study, led by Stephen M. Casner of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, found that pilots’ instrument scanning skills and manual control skills remained strong, even among pilots who said they practiced them infrequently.
Casner and his research team based their conclusions on results obtained when 16 airline pilots flew routine and nonroutine flight scenarios in a Boeing 747-400 simulator. The researchers varied the level of automation in use, graded the pilots’ performance and asked questions about their thoughts during the simulator sessions.
A companion study, conducted during the same simulator sessions (ASW
