Are Airplanes Becoming Too Sophisticated?

Ever since the Wright Brothers first flew their powered aircraft in 1903, aircraft manufactures have been competing to make the better aircraft. What is the better aircraft? Is it the aircraft with the largest capacity, or is it the most fuel efficient aircraft? Most people say it is a combination of various factors. People have their own opinions but the real “best” aircraft is the aircraft that is the most successful with each particular niche. 

Boeing 777 Cockpit

In the past 100 years, great heights in technology have been reached. As a result of this, the technology in the cockpits of aircraft has also gotten significantly better. For instance, let’s take the Boeing 707 and pit it against the Boeing 777. The Boeing 707 was the most popular long haul aircraft back in the 1950’s and had a strong presence until the early 1980’s. Back then, the aircraft was considered quite technologically advanced. The Boeing 777 is basically today’s counterpart of the Boeing 707. The only difference is its design, the fact it can fly much further and hold many more people, and also, that it has much newer technology. The old Boeing 707 required pilots to manually tune VOR stations and radials for the aircraft to be able to navigate. The pilots also had to perform a countless amount of calculations regarding decent points, climb rates and many other factors affecting performance. On the Boeing 777, all of these calculations are done with a tool called the Flight Management System (FMS) and the navigation is done pretty much automatically, with no pilot input.

Boeing 707 Cockpit

This sounds great doesn’t it? New technology means that there is less work for the pilots in command of the aircraft, which gives them more time to focus on the task of actually flying the plane. However, the question of “are these planes getting too safe” has been brought up many times. For example, look at the aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industries. Since 1988, Airbus has been implementing a system in their aircraft called “Fly by Wire”. 

Traditionally, aircraft control surfaces are moved by large cables which are attached to a yoke which is controlled by the pilots. This fly by wire technology eliminates these heavy cables, by sending all inputs from the pilots to a computer which moves the control surfaces. This system works quite well, as it eliminates the need for large and heavy cables. More and more aircraft form other manufactures are implementing this system, but Airbus has other systems which override pilot input. Yes, you read that right; the plane can actually override pilot input. For instance, if the plane is about to enter a stall and the pilot tries to pull the aircraft of the nose up, the flight computer push the nose down to increase airspeed and prevent the aircraft from stalling. The system works quite well, although many argue that humans should always have the final say on what happens, not a computer with artificial intelligence. In 1988, an Airbus A320 was performing a demonstration flight. The plane came in too slow and too low. As a result the aircraft was close to stalling so the aircraft pushed the nose down to prevent the stall. The only problem, there was a forest right in front of the plane and the aircraft ended up crashing into it.

So, time to answer the question. Are aircraft really getting to technologically advanced? Many people have argued this topic for years now and there is no conclusive answer, everything depends on personal opinion. In my opinion, I do not thing that aircraft are becoming too technologically advanced. I believe that if the proper precautions are taken, airplanes that make our current technology look like it comes from the Stone Age can be perfectly safe. We just need to make sure that manufacturers spend just as much time on assuring the airworthiness of the aircraft as well as the technology that goes into it.