I just returned from the American Association for Justice‘s annual convention in Baltimore, where I spoke on the risks automation poses to the general aviation pilot. As luck would have it, my autopilot failed departing San Carlos, so I ended up hand flying coast-to-coast. No “deskilling” happening here.
Automation risk has become a popular topic over the past few years, but there’s relatively little research on the subject. To prepare for the talk, I reviewed that research and summarized it below.