The co-pilots apparently did not notice that the plane had reached its maximum permissible altitude. The co-pilots did not read out the available data like vertical velocity, altitude, etc. The absence of any training, at high altitude, in manual airplane handling and in the club automation elite procedure for ”Vol avec IAS douteuse” caused this terrible accident. The development of automation, since its appearance during the 1930s with the first autopilots on the flight deck, has caused very important debates, studies and, especially, changes in flying practices.

There is a move towards competency-based training through the introduction of a new licence, the Multi-Crew Pilot Licence, which is designed to assess trainees based on actual performance in a range of situations rather than simply completing an arguably outdated syllabus. Aviation has also benefitted from the research and development budgets afforded to military and space programmes, driven by two World Wars and the subsequent Cold War. Airframers and engine manufacturers to this day often work on civilian airliners alongside military projects, with crossover of technology between the two. In the last three decades automation in aeroplane cockpits has increased hugely whilst training of pilots has in general retained a more traditional emphasis on stick-and-rudder skills.

They began the C172 program in January 2018 and completed fully automated gate-to-gate operation before the end of that year. Extensive system safety analysis and testing was conducted prior to the unmanned test flight in September 2019. This marked the first time a privately funded company operated a passenger airplane of this type with no pilot on board over a populated region, and was an important step in certifying the autonomous platform for repeated, safe civil use on certified aircraft. Autoland requires the use of a radar altimeter to determine the aircraft’s height above the ground very precisely so as to initiate the landing flare at the correct height (usually about 50 feet ). The localizer signal of the ILS may be used for lateral control even after touchdown until the pilot disengages the autopilot. For safety reasons, once autoland is engaged and the ILS signals have been acquired by the autoland system, it will proceed to landing without further intervention.

Sometimes, however, these “4P” elements become disjointed or even conflict with each other. It has been shown time and time again that when pilots fully rely on automation, they lose the ability to fully understand how to fly the aircraft. It has also been proven that our society has been lagging with the fast-paced technological changes, to the point that it has been difficult for lawmakers and federal organizations to keep up with such an advancement in technology.

During the F-35’s lengthy development phase BAE’s Striker was used as an interim alternative while the incumbent supplier solved image vibration issues. In the meantime the Striker has been proven operationally in use with Typhoon and Gripen fighter aircraft and has now been enhanced by making it an all-digital solution. One development that certainly has its origins in military aviation but which has now taken pilot situational awareness to new levels in the commercial market is the head-up display . Certified by Airbus this year, Thales has now introduced a twin HUD configuration that enables all the projected information to be seen by both pilots simultaneously. Since the digital revolution changed forever the pilot’s working environment, innovators and suppliers of cockpit systems have strived to provide a continuous stream of new developments and products that offer increasingly automated solutions to what has to be done to fly and land an airplane safely. Airplane and turbine engine manufacturers have integrated automation technology into all assembly lines, including material handling, fastening, sealing, welding, inspection, and testing.