The human touch

Decision-making in a dynamic environment

The recent ‘East Coast Low’ weather event was less than ideal for aviation. The intense low pressure system crept southward stirring up the big winds and the big wet with dramatic effect. Towns were flooded, coastlines washed away and all forms of transport thrown into chaos. As always, aviation was hobbled by the extreme weather on a number of levels, but even so, it presented an opportunity to demonstrate exactly what is involved in safe air travel.

Those that perceive airline flying as fully automated and so simple that a child could do it would have been interested in what took place when the weather was less than ideal. Automation plays a far greater role in the modern world, but the need for intelligent management of an airliner still exists.