"A Bowl of Stars"

The following note was written by a friend of mine shortly after an airline accident involving my airline. It happened during a night visual approach to the airport at Cali, Columbia. The weather was good in the mountainous terrain.

Preceding the accident, pilots had been questioning the merits of their training syllabus that professed the computer as God. Hands off, let the computer do it, it is all knowing.

It turns out the pilots were right to question the proceedures. The computer is only as good as the information it is given. It is only a tool, it does not create. A thought process takes place before the computer is told to execute it's solution. The computer is not responsible for the input that controls it's action. It's the hand and mind of man that lives with the result. Man needs to accept that credit whether good, bad or ugly.

This premise about the dependence and use of the computer in other applications holds the same weight. It can be used creatively but it can not create. It is just a tool and if used wisely by a creative person much like an artist with a brush in his hand, look out Mona Lisa.

Ron Hart

The Computer as God? As Tool?

My airline lost an aircraft and many lives on a night approach to Cali, Columbia. Fingers were pointed at all possible responsible parties. As the effluence of guilt spread around, a question was raised in my mind. Why are computers not flying airplanes? It occurred to me that the pilot is the last link. The last link to integrate Science, Machinery and Wisdom.

My note about the Cali accident addresses this question.

CALI...

A bowl of stars touched the black Pacific and in the darkness struggled to define the horizon.

Color-saturated computer images danced across six black screens and described with exacting preciseness the here and now, the plan, the systems. The silence of aerodynamic noise painted a picture of comfort. Connecting continents with a constant stream of scheduled air travel drenched us with the illusion that flight is routine. Flight is not routine.

A rivet was fitted with exactness. Each fluid line was fitted with a check valve and guarded by another, and another. Black screens beneath attentive eyes followed blips. Throttles moved, controls deflected, engines roared. Every participant contributed to the process as the completeness of flight evolved.

On a dark night in South America time became critical. Communication, technology, the human-condition, and failed or missing components lined up in such a way that the pilot became the last to face the challenge, the last check valve. The silence of aerodynamic noise stopped.

Embracing the challenge, reaching for perfection, accepting the pain and the pleasure is the life blood of our profession. We are the last check valve.

Captain John Paul Rogers

Chief Pilot San Francisco Base