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Norski

Flight 188: Time to Ban Humans from Flight Crews?

Posted by Norski • 10/23/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: ai, airliners, artificial intelligence, flight 188, minnesota, robots

Flight 188 overshot the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International airport. By 150 miles.

Happily, the pilots stopped chatting and picked up the phone before fighters intercepted the airliner.

Dashed nice of the flight crew, I'd say.

Which brings up an interesting point: Is it time to re-think the question of allowing humans to pilot airliners? ( apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2009/10/northwest-flight-188-overshoots-msp.h... )

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User Comments

  1. Norski
    10/23/09
    Norski
    A shameless plug deserves a shameless bump.

    "Bump."
    [reply]
    1. Norski
      10/24/09
      Norski
      Another shameless "bump."
  2. MadameX
    10/23/09
    MadameX
    I wouldn't want to be a passenger on a plane that wasn't manned by humans CAPABLE of flying it. Whether or not there should be more automated back-up is another question.
    [reply]
    1. Norski
      10/23/09
      Norski
      Both are very good points. I'm not - at all - convinced that a competent, responsible adult doesn't have a place on the flight deck on an airliner.

      Flight 188's pilots, on the other hand, make something like 2001's HAL seem like an awfully good alternative.

      Sure, HAL tried to kill everybody else on board, but that's because he was afraid that they'd interfere with his getting the mission accomplished.
    2. legbamel
      10/23/09
      legbamel
      Ah, but the "competent, responsible adult" part is apparently trickier than one would have thought. I'll be this story makes everyone who missed their respective exit today feel a lot better.
    3. Norski
      10/23/09
      Norski
      legbamel,

      Yeah: this isn't exactly a 'feel-good' story. Still, everybody got off in one piece.
  3. legbamel
    10/24/09
    legbamel
    They're denying that they were taking a nap and/or having a fight, and they passed breathalyzer tests, but apparently no one will explain how not only the flight deck crew but also the cabin crew either didn't notice or chose to ignore that they were in Wisconsin. I'm awfully curious to know what happened up there, because the longer they refuse to answer the more sinister it seems, to me. Maybe they're all trying to come up with a believable story. Alien abduction, perhaps?
    [reply]
    1. Norski
      10/24/09
      Norski
      legbamel,

      I trust the 'breathalyzer' tests included sampling for chemicals other than alcohol. If the flight crew was sober, that's almost a more serious issue: indicating that under good-to-ideal conditions they're able to pull a daft stunt like this.

      I don't blame the cabin crew so much: those windows aren't very large, and from seven miles up, all they'd be likely to see was cloud decks or haze. Minnesota's Twin Cities have tall buildings - but not that tall.

      Actually, alien abduction may be their best bet when it comes to plausible explanations - other than saying 'we're nitwits, please fire us.'
  4. Norski
    10/26/09
    Norski
    The Flight 188 story keeps getting stranger.

    Now, apparently, instead of holding to a 'we fell asleep' excuse - which might have given them a chance of salvaging their careers - it seems that they're saying they were distracted by a laptop. ( apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2009/10/northwest-flight-188-distracted-by.ht... )

    Amazing.
    [reply]
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