Richard_G

My father helped program the F18 ACLS for aircraft carriers. The Navy guys didn’t want to let go of the controls… they had to get Marines to do the testing. ?
I can see the same thing here until pilots get comfortable the plane will not try to kill them. It is this way with all new tech.
As a child in the 60s, I was brought into the Atlanta ARTCC by my father. It was smoke filled, with chain smoking controllers punching the keyboards as they stared at the screen with a cursor sweep going around. I was then led to a room where airplanes were being pushed around on a table. People were on headsets listening and moving the planes with sticks. I asked what are these guys doing… they were tracking planes in case the radars go down. Yes, the controllers didn’t trust the new computerized radar system. But, that was the 60s.
About 20 years later, I was working on those ATC systems as a technician… and controller smoking was what caused most of the failures. Now they can not live without the modernized computer controlled ATC systems… how things change.

1 reply

avi8tor.tom

What’s it doing now . . . Cap’n sez to the First Osifer.

1 reply

Jason_Bowman

If you dig a little deeper, the goal here is to actually reduce manning requirements not fully automate. But it is a stepping stone to full automation if only to build trust.

keith

“controller smoking was what caused most of the failures.”

Buttmouths begone! :-o)

keith

So the remaining pilot becomes the dog?

(Obscure old aviation joke.)

1 reply

keith

Something about a dog in the cockpit whose job was to bite the pilot awake.

1 reply

maule

I prefer my cat. Lighter, more compact, without the drool and irritating tail wagging. Hairball mitigation remains a hassle however.

KirkW

Early elevators in buildings required elevator operators using multiple levers to ‘drive’ the elevator car to the correct floor, match the floor height, and open doors in the right sequence. Later, pushbutton elevators were invented that did all those functions automatically. But the general public was distrustful of this newfangled technology and resisted riding on elevators without an operator for many years.

Until the elevator operators went on strike.

Very quickly, people chose automation over inconvenience. Pushbutton elevators rapidly took over. In NYC, the few remaining elevator operators are either driving older freight elevators, or performing a largely ceremonial role.

While there is a large technological gulf between elevators and airplanes (or even automobiles), I find many of the same themes playing out as automation becomes more and more capable.