pic: Google Streetview driver autograph

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by JesseK

I can't find the transcript, but I read the black box voice recordings from the final minutes of the AirFrance 447. It essentially came down to a confusion between what the autopilot ("fully autonomous") was supposed to and not supposed to do. It also came down to 2 co-pilots being unable to sync flight controls with each other due to an automated 'smart' algorithm that replaced a physical link between the flight sticks.

This is a gross oversimplification of an extremely complicated flight controls and human computer interactions issue. Just because the Airbus side stick is not physically linked like a Boeing yoke and does not have force feedback does not mean that the controls were not "synced." Please do more reading.