Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T02:05:19.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Automatic Landing: The Role of the Human Pilot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

A. M. A. Majendie
A. M. A. Majendie
Affiliation:
(Smiths Aviation Division)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Accepting the technical fact of automatic landing, an examination is made of the basic human problems in its application to commercial air transport. This examination starts with an analysis of the use of human operators and automatic machines applied to operational tasks. Consideration is given to both control and monitoring functions, and conclusions are drawn about the correct approach to man/machine system design.

The required standard of safety for commercial automatic landing is briefly reviewed, with particular reference to the official British attitude. It is shown that automatic landing can be a tool for improving safety in future. The role of the pilot is considered. It is concluded that there is no real conflict between man and machine: that the automatic system will not affect the crew complement, or the basic responsibilities of an airline pilot: and that the potential of automatic systems can only be realized by a proper understanding of their true implications.

The original paper, of which this is an abbreviated version, was presented at the Institute of Aerospace Sciences National Meeting held in Seattle, Washington, on 10 and 11 August 1962.

Automatic landing systems are already in full production in Britain for Bomber and Transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force, and many thousands of successful landings have been made in both jet and propeller driven aircraft in all sorts of weather conditions. Second generation equipment is now clearing the prototype stage and entering production for application to passenger carrying aircraft at a civil standard of safety. This equipment is destined initially for application to the De Havilland Trident for British European Airways, and to the Short Belfast heavy transport for the Royal Air Force.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , January 1963 , pp. 84 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Charnley, W. J, (1959). The work of the Blind Landing Experimental Unit, Institute of Aeronautical Sciences Paper No. 59–131, The Anglo-American Aeronautical Conference,New York.Google Scholar
2Prescott, T. W, (1961). Automatic Control Techniques used in the B.L.E.U. Landing System, from the Proceedingsofthe F.A.A. R.&D. Symposium, Atlantic City.Google Scholar
3Majendie, A. M. A., (1959). Some Considerations of Safety in Automatic Flight Control, Report on the 1st International Congress of Aeronautical Sciences Madrid, 1958, Pergamon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
4Fearnside, K., (1958). Trends in the Instrumental and Automatic Control of Approach and Landing, from the Proceedings of the 11th I.A.T.A. Technical Conference,Monaco,September.Google Scholar
5Majendie, A. M. A., and Fearnside, K., (1960). Towards All-Weather Operation, from the Proceedings of the 13th I.A.T.A. Technical Conference,Lucerne.Google Scholar
6Majendie, A. M. A., (1960). Aspects of Instrument Development for All-Weather Operation. One of a series of lectures given before The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, London.Google Scholar
7Fearnside, K., (1962). Some Engineering Problems in the Design of a Multiplex Autopilot, from the Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society, London.Google Scholar
8McKinlay, W. H, (1962). A Flight Control System for Modern Transport Aircraft Embodying Multiplex Automatic Control, from the Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society,London.Google Scholar
9Lloyd, D. A, (1962). Some Aspects of Self Adaptive Techniques in Future Flight Control Systems, from the Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society,London.Google Scholar
10Dymock, A. J, (1962). An Approach to the Problems of Designing for Extreme Reliability in Operation of Automatic Control Systems, from the Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society, London.Google Scholar
11Majendie, A. M. A., (1960). The human versus the automatic navigator. This Journal 13, 105.Google Scholar
12Majendie, A. M. A. (1962). Pilots and Monitors—Automatic and Human, from the Proceedings of the 5th European Congress of Aviation Medicine, London, 1960. Published by the Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1962, pp. 209–219.Google Scholar
13Tye, W., (1962). The Degree of Reliability Required Especially in Relation to Future Aircraft, from the Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society,London.Google Scholar