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Aviation is stuck in the 60s – a reflection on MH 370

english.martinvarsavsky.net

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Re: Aviation is stuck in the 60s – a reflection on MH 370

#71
post #58
post #47

I am by no means an aviation expert, but my career was largely built on things like putting GPS and modern radios into military aircraft, writing flight planners, and so on. I ask you to envision the logistics of a simple change. You want to implement X, and gee-whiz do I have some cool, new technology that makes it easy!! Okay. Let's start. If we make mistakes people die, and careers end. I'll let you draw your own…

If bureaucracy prevents new technology of being adopted quickly, then that bureaucracy actually decreases safety, even if it's goal is to increase safety. Yes, adopting new technology increases some risks, but also decreases others. The good thing is that usually you can have both systems on at the same time. If the internet connection and GPS fails, it's not difficult to fall back to the existing technology.

Well no.

What happens when the GPS says one thing, and the "internet" says another?

what takes precedence?

The "Internet" isn't safe, reliable or even bullet proof.

New technology isn't a golden bullet. Often its just a re-invention of the wheel. (whatsapp for example, is just MMS without the guaranteed delivery.)

I don't want my plane being crammed full of shiny new tech, especially if its not proven. Th reason why there is bureaucracy is to make things safe.

Re: Aviation is stuck in the 60s – a reflection on MH 370

#72
Does weather change that drastically over the duration of an average flight?

Pilots get weather forecasts before take-off, are they inadequate? How does knowing the weather at the destination help with the immediate task of flying a plane through a thunderstorm that you knew was going to be there anyway and you can see on your radar?

How more weather information change the impact of a major weather event e.g. East Coast winter storm, on air travel? I don't see how it could, the decisions are made far ahead of time because weather forecasts are pretty good.

Re: Aviation is stuck in the 60s – a reflection on MH 370

#73
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If bureaucracy prevents new technology of being adopted quickly, then that bureaucracy actually decreases safety, even if it's goal is to increase safety. Yes, adopting new technology increases some risks, but also decreases others. The good thing is that usually you can have both systems on at the same time. If the internet connection and GPS fails, it's not difficult to fall back to the existing technology.

Well no. What happens when the GPS says one thing, and the "internet" says another? what takes precedence? The "Internet" isn't safe, reliable or even bullet proof. New technology isn't a golden bullet. Often its just a re-invention of the wheel. (whatsapp for example, is just MMS without the guaranteed delivery.) I don't want my plane being crammed full of shiny new tech, especially if its not proven. Th reason why…

Well, you're just attacking a strawmen. "Proven" is not a binary value, there are degrees of proof when we're talking about aviation technology. One can reduce bureaucracy while still leaving a justified amount of bureaucracy.

As for preference, it's already norm that there's a multiple different input sensors, and the autopilot and the real pilot has to deduce the correct value. (Good example is air speed, see Air France Flight 447).

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