Mon, Aug 05, 2024 10:25

Tim Harford released another outstanding episode in his “Cautionary Tale” podcast series. The episode is called “Flying Too High: AI and AirFrance Flight 447” and tells a a frightening tale of a fatal plane crash caused by pilot errors when the fly-by-wire system temporarily malfunctioned.

The episode presents interesting concepts, one of which is the de-skilling of pilots, causing them to make incorrect assessments and take wrong actions because of lack of experience of flying without the systems. The automation paradox is that as automation becomes more sophisticated and reduces the need for human intervention, human skills become even more critical for handling exceptional and often dangerous situations.