automation dependency

ATIS Sep 29, 2026

The Boeing Seven Thirty-Seven Max VNAV Software Glitch, the FAA Investigation, and What an Automation Failure in the Max Fleet Tells Us About the Systems We Hand Our Descents To

The FAA is investigating a Boeing 737 Max software glitch that can unexpectedly disengage VNAV, the system managing vertical flight profiles across the fleet.

Tower

Cleared Direct Sep 27, 2026

Airbus Alpha Floor, the Automatic Thrust Command Built Into Normal Law, and What Air France Four Forty-Seven Teaches Every Pilot About the Hidden Architecture of Modern Automation

Airbus alpha floor automatically commands maximum thrust when angle of attack approaches critical limits - and Air France 447 reveals exactly what happens when that protection boundary is crossed.

Vector

Cleared Direct Aug 5, 2026

Lawrence Sperry, the Gyroscopic Autopilot, and the 1914 Paris Demonstration Where He Took His Hands Off the Controls and Stood on the Wing

How Lawrence Sperry's 1914 gyroscopic autopilot demo on the Seine launched a century of cockpit automation - and the pilot-skill debate it still fuels.

Vector

Cleared Direct Jul 2, 2026

Air France Four Forty-Seven - What the Atlantic Taught Aviation About the Hidden Cost of Cockpit Automation

The 2009 crash of Air France 447 revealed how cockpit automation can erode the manual skills pilots need most when automated systems fail.

Vector