Pilots risk losing skills: Emirates boss
The allure of technology could mean the loss of manual flying abilities — the ones needed in an emergency
The head of one of the world’s biggest airlines is worried pilots risk being seduced by technology and lose their flying skills as aircraft get more advanced.
Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said while aircraft can theoretically be flown and landed by computers, pilots still needed hands- on training to deal with a range of scenarios.
“I am very concerned about the loss of airmanship skills and I drive it home in Emirates in a very big way so I’ve increased the training that they do,” he told the Herald.
“They know how to do it but if you seduce them with these unbelievable technological platforms they think they don’t have to do much.”
Like other airlines, Emirates has stepped up hands- on training.
“There’s an extra day twice a year for manual handling to deal with highlevel upsets, low- speed approaches and departures with difficult situations to try and hone the skills.”
While flying i s getting safer statistically, airlines weren’t taking their eyes off the ball. “That would be folly.” Pilots need to know how to handle an aircraft in distress such as the Qantas A380 crippled by an engine explosion after takeoff from Singapore in 2010. It was saved because of the skill of an experienced crew.
“That was seat- of- the- pants airmanship kicking in,” Clark said.
In August, an Emirates Boeing 777 crashed as it tried to abort a landing in high winds at Dubai Airport, and the way the crew responded to the plane’s automatic systems will be part of the investigation.
The issue of over- reliance on automation was highlighted this year by the US Department of Transportation. It criticised the Federal Aviation Administration for not having in place processes to assess whether airline pilots adequately monitor automated systems on the flight deck or maintain their manual flying skills.
The department’s Inspector General noted that several accidents, including the 2013 crash of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 on landing at San Francisco Airport, “have shown that pilots who typically fly with automation can make errors when confronted with an unexpected event or transitioning to manual flying”.
In this country, the Civil Aviation Authority assesses airline operator policies, procedures, and training to ensure the appropriate use of automation in flight operations and the regular maintenance of manual flight skills.
A new rule introduced this year requires operators to implement a safety management system including new requirements for operators to identify safety hazards, manage associated safety risks, and to monitor safety performance.
The authority’s deputy director, Air Transport and Airworthiness, Mark Hughes, said the authority considered flight path management and the use of automation to be critical to aviation safety.
Hughes said New Zealand airlines already had programmes in place to ensure automation was used appropriately and that pilots retain manual handling skills. “These were being continually improved in response to safety data and risk management.”
NZ rules have also been changed in line with international practice to give the non- flying pilot a monitoring role, rather than being passive.
NZ Air Line Pilots Association president Tim Robinson said the 2009 crash of an Air France plane off Brazil, where the crew’s response to an equipment glitch proved tragic, was a precursor for a shake- up.
“It was a wake- up call for airlines globally to ask whether their jet pilots in this highly automated world are maintaining their manual flying skills,” Robinson said.
Jet aircraft were t ypically on autopilot for all but takeoff and landing and had the ability to land themselves in thick fog. He said the association was satisfied with the training pilots were getting in New Zealand.
One veteran pilot and simulator instructor who contacted the Herald yesterday said Clark was right to speak out on the issue.
“He’s the only guy to have come out and acknowledged this thing.”
The ex- Air NZ pilot, who has worked around the world, said communication in English within the cockpit was also a major problem in some carriers. were praised for their work.
“We try and simulate these situations in danger as best we can so that when it does happen, as it did, their training just kicked in,” Clark said.
“Emirates isn’t any different from Lufthansa or BA [ British Airways] or whoever. Would they have got their passengers out at the same speed?
“Don’t know,” he told the Herald.
A wing had been ripped off and the plane was on fire as passengers scrambled out.
Clark said the evacuation was more difficult because slides deployed on one side of the plane were blown vertical by strong winds.
“They had a compression of passengers trying to get out of one or two doors and that made life much more difficult,” he said.
“The panic that could have happened to a cabin crew who lost it and ran didn’t happen. They were cool, calm and collected.”
The captain and the purser were the last to get off the plane and jumped as it was engulfed in flames.
Asked if the crew got a bonus he said: “It was a good story.
“I will say we looked after all of them.”