I was watching a TV series that highlights all the aircraft accidents around the world. Many of them are caused by weather and terrorists acts. Some are mechanical failure. The causes are many and various.
The most unfortunate are those caused by pilot error. As a pilot myself, I am most sensitive to this fault.
Humans do make mistakes. No doubt about that.
As an industry, the aircraft transportation business has become more and more dependent on automation (Artificial Intelligence) (AI) to manage aircraft flight control and not augment but replace pilot skills.
At first. such automation provided a great boost in flying safety and greatly reduced the so called “work load” of the pilot and crew.
But what I have seen watching hundreds of these shows, is an obvious pilot dependence on this automation. Commercial pilots are (in my thinking) no longer “natural ability” pilots, but flight computer programmers. When the automation they depend upon quits working due to a fault, many pilots have no natural instinct ( muscle and brain memory) of how an aircraft naturally flies.
I just watched a recently presented “air accident” TV program where they actually admitted, many pilots are now so dependent of AI (automation) and everything always “working”, they have to quickly find, open, and read a reference book and follow a “set procedure” step by step to recover normal flight. In fact they will be “faulted” in the crash investigation if they don’t read the printed procedure and follow it. Process steps so complex, a check list must be followed , not executed from pilot memory.
There is no “seat of the pants” training or natural “flying ability” with some present day commercial pilots.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has removed the skill of thinking through manual processes of aircraft flying, using the human mind. The mind has not been trained, conditioned and accustomed to such creative thought. “Procedures” are written line by line like early computer programs (now obsolete ).
When nothing can be found after an exhaustive search in the printed guides, the pilots are forced to think for themselves to resolve the emergency. Only the quick witted pilot and flight crews that can work together as a team survive to tell their solution.
The cable TV program I just viewed clearly admitted that humans are now the weak link in an emergency, as many pilots are no longer the qualified “safety take over control” agent when automated systems fail.
I’ve watched accident reenactments of pilots “pulling back” of the stick (full up elevator) while the aircraft is in an aerodynamic stall, trying to “climb higher”. Which is totally opposite of the proper “push forward” action “real” pilots are conditioned to do.
I cannot say or do anything to fix aviation. But a similar overwhelming truth has come over me.
Automation (AI) is doing the exact same thing to all human thinking activity and mental conditioning. Human skills are deteriorating from lack of use and are being replaced by automation.
Writing this post, I don’t have to think too hard about spelling and grammar. AI is going to “fix” that for me and make me a great author, but a dumber human being.
Cars can drive me down the road with no hands with me not watching. Or around town with no driver at all.
Pilotless drones screaming through the air above my head.
Kids leaving school with no natural thinking abilities. Attention spans near zero because automation has taken control. Ask your PC to write meeting minutes for a meeting you never attended. You have zero contribution. Zero worth.
Automation is monitoring humans every moment of our lives in “developed nations” Human spies are no longer necessary. Electronics are now watching humans and making critical judgments. All control by AI.
Humans are already at a lower intelligence level than AI and we have granted this AI all the power it needs to make humans “Second in Command.”