Expert Opinion
AIN Blog: Shedding Light on Automation’s Dark Side
It is time for the industry to have a serious conversation about stick-and-rudder skills.
Debris from the missing Air France A330-200 recovered from the Atlantic Ocean arrives at the port of Recife, Brazil on June 14, 2009.
Debris from the missing Air France A330-200 recovered from the Atlantic Ocean arrives at the port of Recife, Brazil on June 14, 2009.

Like many pilots, Bill Voss is concerned about the extent to which automation has changed the role of the professional pilot today. But as president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, Voss is also better placed than most to do something about the problems he perceives.

The losses of the Air France A330 and Colgan Q400 in 2009 cast doubt on the core stick-and-rudder skills of pilots flying modern commercial aircraft, some of them extremely automated. “We keep trying to pretend this snuck up on us but it had all the stealth of a freight train,” notes Voss. “Of course this was happening, and everyone knew it. But no one really talked about it until the Air France A330 crashed into the Atlantic. Now we’ve had that event, we have to have a serious conversation about stick-and-rudder skills.”

Nigel Moll
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