A lot has been written over the past few years about pilots relying on the automation to fly the airplane to the detriment of actual hands-on-the-stick piloting skills. I have long been baffled by pilots’ reliance on the autopilot. But perhaps this attitude comes from my Air Force training early on and particularly from a black, black night at low altitude over the Atlantic Ocean. In October 1973, the war in Vietnam was winding to a close. For the previous three years or so, I had been flying the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter to Southeast Asia and all over the Pacific Ocean, supporting the US missions in that part of the world. Then, a new crisis: Israel had once again been attacked by Egypt, and the Air Force was tasked with supplying arms to Israel.
Final Turn in the Azores
Key Takeaways:
- During critical C-141 resupply missions for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the pilot's aircraft experienced an elevator artificial-feel system failure, making pitch control difficult and requiring modified procedures.
- On a subsequent automatic approach during a moonless night, the aircraft unexpectedly pitched up and rapidly lost airspeed, nearing a stall, due to the autothrottle system's delayed response to power demands during a turn.
- The pilot's immediate manual intervention saved the plane from crashing, and he later realized the automation had made a "rookie error" in power management, highlighting the critical importance of human piloting skills over reliance on automated systems.
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