Automation Dependency by Capt. Brian Schiff for Lift Magazine Published Spring, 2015 There have recently been too many accidents involving automation dependency, a pilot's over-reliance on the autopilot (and other automated systems). Modern autopilots have become so reliable that they have lulled us into a sense of complacency. Pilots have become conditioned to rely too heavily on them. The autopilot is a tool that should be utilized, not a crutch upon which to lean. When I b

On a dark, foggy night in Providence, Rhode Island, one wrong turn on a taxiway set off a series of dangerous, mistaken assumptions by an airline crew and the tower controller. Learn how a serious accident was averted in this AOPA Air Safety Institute animation. Watch the animation.