Automation and Human Performance

040-03-07Pablo Asensio Martínez2026-04-011 min

Benefits vs. Costs

Airbus A380 cockpit

  • Benefit: Reduces physical workload, precise navigation, fuel economy.
  • Cost: Increases mental workload (monitoring), risk of skill decay (manual flying skills atrophy).

Automation Issues

  • Complacency: Over-trusting the system. "It's always right." The pilot stops monitoring (out-of-the-loop).
  • Mode Awareness: Not knowing what the autopilot is doing.
    • Question: "What is it doing now?" "Why did it do that?"
    • Cause: Silent failures or mode reversions (e.g., reverting from VNAV to Level Change unexpectedly).
  • Automation Surprise: When the system behaves differently than the pilot's mental model.

Golden Rules

  1. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.
  2. Use the appropriate level of automation for the task.
  3. If things don't look right, disconnect and fly manually.
  4. Understand your FMA (Flight Mode Annunciator). It is the only reliable source of automation status.