The Department of Transportation has expressed its concerns over the way pilots fly aircraft. The Department has warned that US pilots forgot how to fly an aircraft manually. The Department further stated that US pilot training is no longer helping airline pilots to fly aircraft manually. The autonomous technology inside the cockpit is actually helping pilots fly aircraft on auto mode.
A latest report on US pilots and training by Department of Transportation has revealed several interesting features about the aviation sector. The report highlighted some cases where technical aspects require pilots to manually take control of aircraft. Some pilots lack the expertise or ability to fly aircraft manually.
According to a report by GIZMODO, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) doesn't have a methodology that makes pilots efficient in flying aircraft manually or using automation system as well. The report advised the FAA to develop a new system to monitor and evaluate the expertise and performance of pilots to assess the manual flying capacity.
The report has further stated that the current training programs can't ensure that pilots can safely take control of the aircraft from automated system in case of any unexpected situation. The US Aviation regulatory agency also lacks the enough mechanism to ensure pilots are fully trained to use and monitor automated flight system.
Reuters reports that FAA has no information or data on how often pilots fly aircraft on automated system and manually. The airline training programs in general not adequately focus on manual skills of pilots. The report has also observed that Federal Aviation Administration is unable to enable the pilots to maintain their flying skills.
The report further said: "The agency is missing important opportunities to ensure that pilots maintain skills needed to safely fly and recover in the event of a failure with flight deck automation or an unexpected event."
US pilots typically fly aircraft on take offs and landings. Pilots put aircraft on automated system for over 90 percent of the flying, as reported by The Telegraph. The automated system in general enhanced aviation safety considerably. However, the practice of complexity of automated technology is raising more concerns about safety aspect.
A spokesman at FAA denied to comment on the report. He said that there were inspector general's concerns about the lapses in the existing system. FAA is developing guidelines on training and operations involving all the stakeholders including airlines, pilots and flight attendants.
The National Transportation Safety Board has found that an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in 2013 at San Francisco International airport. Because the pilot didn't have the skill to take the aircraft under manual control and instead heavily depended on automated system.
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