ABSTRACT
Therewasatimewhenthequestionofwhattoautomateinanaircrafthada simpleanswer:Automateeverythingyoutechnicallycan(Douglas,1990).The AirTransportAssociationobservedthat'duringthe1970sandearly1980s...the conceptofautomatingasmuchaspossiblewasconsideredappropriate'(ATA, 1989,p.4).Thepromisesofautomationreachedwideandfar,withbenefits rangingfromimprovedeconomicsandsafetytoincreasedoperatorperformance andcomfort(WienerandCurry,1980).Automatingeverythingthatwas technicallyandeconomicallyfeasiblewasevensuggestedtobeasystems engineer' sultimategoal-theinevitableproductofthefocusofthatprofession. AsChapanis(1970)putit:'Thenatureofsystemsengineering...(is)suchthatthe engineertriestomechaniseorautomateeveryfunctionthatcanbe'.The introductionofautomationoverthepasttwentyyearshassubjectedairtransport toasizeablenaturalexperiment.Itsresultsformapatternthatisquitedifferent fromtheoriginalpromises.
