Man and Machine — Page 288, Lesson 474

I want to walk you through one of the key downsides that comes with highly automated aircraft — and it's a problem that directly affects your performance as a pilot, even when you're not actively flying. We're looking at the disadvantages of automation, and the first major one is boredom leading to a loss of situational awareness. Now, let me unpack that carefully. The highly automated flight deck and extended range operations have developed concurrently — meaning they grew together. So today, the cruise stage of a flight, where the pilot has very little to do, can continue for over 12 hours. That's half a day with minimal hands-on flying. This creates problems, not just of boredom and hypovigilance — which is a reduced state of alertness or watchfulness — but also a loss of handling skills. If you're not manually flying the aircraft for long stretches, your muscle memory and feel for the controls degrade. Boredom also leads to reduced monitoring of the environment and reduced situational awareness. When you're bored, you stop scanning your instruments and your outside world as thoroughly. You lose the big picture of where you are, what the aircraft is doing, and what's coming next. Now, here's a real-world consequence. A bored crew may be tempted to experiment with systems on the flight deck. In one serious incident, the crew tried to discover how certain aspects of the auto-throttle operated. In the process, they disabled the engine management system to the extent that fan blades were shed by an engine. Those fan blades pierced the fuselage, and a passenger was lost through the hole. That's how severe the outcome can be when boredom leads to inappropriate system interaction. So, what has been done to cope with boredom? There have been many suggestions. One of the simplest devices is the fitting of a button which must be pressed every five minutes if no other pilot activity is detected. If the crew should fall asleep, then failure to press the button will trigger an aural warning — an audible alert in the cockpit. An airline has now installed a more sophisticated system. Here's how it works, step by step. If nothing has been picked up by the CVR — that's the Cockpit Voice Recorder — for 10 minutes, a steady light illuminates in the cockpit. After 15 minutes, the warning light flashes. After 20 minutes, an audible warning sounds both in the cockpit and in the galley, indicating that a member of the Cabin Crew must visit the cockpit. So the system escalates from a steady light, to a flashing light, to an audible alert that summons a flight attendant to check on the pilots. The takeaway for the future: the aircraft of the future needs to be designed with a flight deck that is not only safe, comfortable, and efficient, but also provides the occupants with the stimulation and interest necessary to maintain alertness. That's the design challenge — keeping the pilot engaged even when automation is doing most of the work.