Air France jet from Brazil missing with 228 on board

[newsartist]

Technology exists to find them, but it will be a very expensive effort.

 

[tam8ttec]

it could of been anything why the plane went down......but what i really dont understand is why is there even auto pilot....sometimes if the pilot was actually flying him/herself, there wouldnt be the chance of a horrific crash.....the autopilot tends to believe whatever the planes meters are reading = speed, velocity, height, etc,,so it will automatically correct these things if they are not reading right.....they might not be reading right because there is a malfunction in the system....so the plane will actually be flying just fine, until the autopilot starts correcting these things it believes is wrong....thats when it can be too late.......every second counts for a pilot! i really dont know about this autopilot, but to me i think if theres a way to make it more simple for autopilot without too much control of the plane, ex, just flying straight. the rest of the flying can be done by a pilot, because thats what a pilot is soppose to be,,, right,,,, a pilot.....

 

[Kerberos]

You raise a very valid point, tam. The level of automation in use changes depending on the situation and crew workload, and is not just a simple on/off switch. For example, using the autopilot on heading mode while navigating through weather frees up more of the crews attention to analyze their options, but leaving the altitude-hold mode on could be dangerous in extreme turbulence since it could lead to an uncommanded departure of the wings or tail. One of the things these pilots are constantly trained to do is use the level of automation appropriate to the situation.

 

[bdewoody]

When I lived in Atlanta, Ga. I had a friend that flew for Eastern Airlines. He was one of the first pilots that I heard this description of his job from. Years of boredome interupted by moments of shear terror. Most all airliners today could fly their entire run from takeoff to landing without the pilot touching anything. The autopilot is very sophisticated and is backed up by on board computers. But you won't catch me riding in a plane that has no human pilot at the controls. The guys in the cockpit are supposed to monitor aircraft systems at all times so even if it was a malfunctioning autopilot that caused the AirFrance plane to crash it would still be chalked up to pilot error.

 

[Kerberos]

There is an old joke about automated cockpits. It says that the airline crew of the future will consist of one captain and one dog. The captain is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to bite the captain if he tries to touch anything.

 

[scottb50]

When I lived in Atlanta, Ga. I had a friend that flew for Eastern Airlines. He was one of the first pilots that I heard this description of his job from. Years of boredome interupted by moments of shear terror. Most all airliners today could fly their entire run from takeoff to landing without the pilot touching anything. The autopilot is very sophisticated and is backed up by on board computers. But you won't catch me riding in a plane that has no human pilot at the controls. The guys in the cockpit are supposed to monitor aircraft systems at all times so even if it was a malfunctioning autopilot that caused the AirFrance plane to crash it would still be chalked up to pilot error.

It is always pilot error. The wing falls off and the crash occurs because the pilot can't fly the aircraft with one wing. The same holds true with autopilots. An autopilot is simply a computer that takes information from various sources and direction from the crew. Enter the wrong information and it will try to take you to the wrong place, lose the reference information and it doesn't know how to execute the commands.

Without information the autopilot can't know what to do, without visual reference or reliable information the crew is in no better place, seat of the pants is not an option. That the aircraft was intact when it hit the water indicates the crew was able to have some control even though they had little or no information to go on.

 

[bdewoody]

When I lived in Atlanta, Ga. I had a friend that flew for Eastern Airlines. He was one of the first pilots that I heard this description of his job from. Years of boredome interupted by moments of shear terror. Most all airliners today could fly their entire run from takeoff to landing without the pilot touching anything. The autopilot is very sophisticated and is backed up by on board computers. But you won't catch me riding in a plane that has no human pilot at the controls. The guys in the cockpit are supposed to monitor aircraft systems at all times so even if it was a malfunctioning autopilot that caused the AirFrance plane to crash it would still be chalked up to pilot error.

It is always pilot error. The wing falls off and the crash occurs because the pilot can't fly the aircraft with one wing. The same holds true with autopilots. An autopilot is simply a computer that takes information from various sources and direction from the crew. Enter the wrong information and it will try to take you to the wrong place, lose the reference information and it doesn't know how to execute the commands.

Without information the autopilot can't know what to do, without visual reference or reliable information the crew is in no better place, seat of the pants is not an option. That the aircraft was intact when it hit the water indicates the crew was able to have some control even though they had little or no information to go on.

I think if a wing or engine fell off they would drop their load on maintenance.