Who knew we have avation buffs on here. Anyone else in the business or just fans?
Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate here, and starting commercial flight training in 2 years if all goes to plan!
Just a few thoughts on what I've been reading:
While the computers can technically run the entire flights they are usually only employed to do so in special circumstances, mainly due to poor visibility due to the weather. Takeoff and landing are almost always pilot controlled, for the most part because they are pilots who love flying and don't want to sit back and watch a computer do the job! And also, if pilots didn't routinely do takeoffs and landings and only did them in emergencys it is clearly the case that they would be less competent in doing so through lack of practice.
As far as safety goes, I watched a tv program recently on the jet engine in Jeremy Clarkson's Inventions that changed the world. I can't remember the exact figures and they have possibly (but unlikely to have) changed, but over the decade before the program was made, 170 million passengers made 17 million flights on UK airlines and no one died due to the aircraft. UK government statistics showed that you are more likely to die putting on a pair of pants ( I'm guessing falling over in doing so and banging your head or something!? ) than flying a UK airline!!
In terms of handling an aircraft I believe Airbus planes have computer limits imposed on the aircraft to prevent structural loads on the structure that exceed the structural limits. I also believe Boeing is more relaxed on this, believing its better to move out the way of something and suffer some structural damage than hit whatever you're trying to manoevre around. This is as far as I can remember and things may have changed.
And to whoever said they thought it was better for a pilot to have control than a computer because of the 'feel' thay have, you can also get pilot induced error due to this very feel due to over-compensation in manoevures. So it's not really a case of one or the other but a combination of both. You don't really need to worry about these things on modern aircraft as they have been considered and the safety record speaks for itself.
Someone finally figured out it was a huge security risk and closed it down.
