In this corner . . .
Every flight is a fight! Human Error be old and out of shape, but never count him out.
human factors
Fully Automatic?
Guess what year this newspaper article was published: 1946? 1976? 1996? 2016? Answer: Rain, Fog, Snow! Future Airliner to Go Right Thru: Automatic Devices Will Handle It. Chicago Daily Tribune. 6 June 1946. Yep! 1946. And the next year Time magazine reported on a military aircraft flying from Newfoundland to England under the control of an autopilot programmed on punched cards: “The plane behaved as if an invisible crew were working her controls. … The commanding robot was a snarl of electronic equipment affectionately known as “the Brain.” Everything it did on the long flight was “preset” before the start. … Continue reading Fully Automatic?
The problem with pilots
Finished reading an amazing book that was published last year— The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight, by former USAF U2 instructor pilot and dean of their school of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Colonel Timothy P. Schultz, PhD. It covers the history of automation in aircraft, the replacement and extension of piloting skills into faster, higher, more precise aerial machines. It’s a must-read for people interested in aviation history, human factors engineering, or understanding the history of automated flying. Full of original research, fully referenced, deeply academic yet written in easy flowing English. And … Continue reading The problem with pilots
The capability of the human pilot
The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered experimental aircraft flown by the USAF and NASA in the 1960’s. The X-15 holds the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned aircraft, set in October 1967 when test pilot William J. Knight at 102,100 feet flew Mach 6.70. Clearly it was a hot rod rocket ride, and obviously important to the advancement of high speed and high altitude aeronautical engineering. But it was also important in understanding the role of the pilot in new highly dynamic systems, and what machine-human interfaces would be functional in those relms (see NASA history page). It’s a theme … Continue reading The capability of the human pilot
Aviation Human Factors — 1932 paper
Clicking around research rabbit holes, reading papers cited by other papers, looking for something else entirely, I came across something in one of the world’s premier medical journals, The Lancet: Preventive Medicine In Its Relation To Aviation, by E. Goodwin Rawlinson (full PDF). From nineteen thirty-two. Yes, 1932. Lots of great quotes: “It must always be an axiom that the pilot (apart from the machine) is the paramount factor of flying.” For the design team, he observes: “The maker of the machines, in his engineering enthusiasm, unconsciously adds to the pilot’s troubles by altering or adding controls, changing what has … Continue reading Aviation Human Factors — 1932 paper