ABSTRACT

Automation is all pervasive on the flight deck. It isn’t just about the control of the aircraft. Automation is also implicated in almost everything else, from cabin pressurisation, to engine start up, to dimming the displays at night time. Parasuraman, Sheridan and Wickens (2000) defined automation as the full or partial replacement of a function carried out by a human operator. Furthermore, the aircraft flight deck can be thought of as one huge flying computer interface. It is a relatively crude example of ubiquitous computing, where there is computer functionality everywhere but is ‘hidden’ behind user interfaces that look nothing like a PC. Automation falls very firmly within the realm of the Machine however it has profound aspects on the huMan component. Not only does it change the way people do their jobs (hence the education and training requirement) it has a profound affective effect on the user. Furthermore, it is also very difficult to draw a hard and fast line between ‘automation’ and ‘human-computer interaction’ (covered in the following chapter). So I won’t.