Wow, I was shocked by the minutes of manual flying per flight, I thought they didn't jump into autopilot until they had at least hit the cruising altitude. As with anything, when you don't practice it, you lose it... so I'm not surprised pilots can't handle situations veteran pilots used to be able to.
I've actually had more concern over these aircraft that have been in use for 20-30 years. I know they maintain them, but I suspect that process has its issues too and I would expect more safety concerns in that area than in pilot error.
GJ said about 1 hour later
Did you see the news about the Russian hockey team killed in a crash today? Some big names--coach was Brad McCrimmon, a Flyer from the 1980s. Pavol Demitra was also on board, as well as Ruslan Salei and Josef Vasicek. Plane was a 1980 Yak-42.
GJ said about 1 hour later
Although some report say the plane was built in 1993. I'm betting on 1980 myself.
Marc said 1 day later
I heard about that. I can't seem to find any reliable information on why it crashed though.
GJ said 1 day later
I've heard it was bad fuel--which would be consistent with descriptions of the crash. Of course, this is pure conjecture...I feel like a truther. Ewwwww.
Steve said 2 days later
Funny, I read the first couple of paragraphs, and immediately flashed back to Top Gun, where they talk about how in the Vietnam war, pilots became reliant on missiles, and their kill ratio dropped from 10:1 down to 3:1, and that's why top gun was formed. Darn computers making everyone too lazy.
Geoff said 2 days later
Interesting, I didn't realize there was such automation. Well, I'm not too worried if the pilot drops dead, I'm pretty sure I can flip a couple switches, drink coffee and land the bitch.
Steve said 3 days later
I agree Geoff, I've logged a couple hours of flying a 737 on Microsoft flight simulator, how much harder could the real thing be?
The one thing missed by this article is that most pilots of commercial passenger planes are either ex-military pilots, or pilots with huge experience and enthusiasm for flight. IE, they have their own planes they fly too, not just the big jets. We went to a local winery run out of a guys house. He flies 747s, and his daily commute to work involves pulling out of his garage in his Cessna, taxiing down the driveway and street to the grass runway in his neighborhood just north of Jackson, MI, and flying in to Detroit Metro, where he changes from the cute little Cessna to a 747.
GJ said 4 days later
I think Geoff and Steve both haven't seen the cockpit of a real plane. There are more switches and control in there than transistors in an 8008 processor...and I'm only slightly exaggerating.
GJ said 4 days later
In other news, Minecraft 1.8 leaked over the weekend. Game mechanics changed just a wee bit.
Geoff said 5 days later
Bah, those switches are there to scare ya. You just push the big red button. I'll check out minecraft.
Steve said 5 days later
Or perhaps you haven't seen them GJ. Most switches and gauges are there in triplicate. One for the pilot, one for co-pilot, and one for the navigator/radio man (on planes that still have one...). I'm not saying it's easy, but it's not impossible either.
The military makes anyone in the cockpit of a plane be able to identify not only a switch, but what position it is in, anywhere in the cockpit, while being blindfolded. I don't know if that's part of a test for commercial pilots, but it probably should be.
However, like cars, you must have a basic understanding of how the vehicle operates in order to stand a chance to maintain control when things go wrong. Some things will be unable to be fixed and you go down. Other things, if you understand the mechanics of what is going wrong, and able to think quickly, you can get the plane down safely. Captain Sulley is the extreme example. Every day planes make emergency landings, few of them crash, even fewer people are killed.
