For the sake of full disclosure, I won't for a second claim to have found this video myself. In fact, I saw it on Airliners.net thread yesterday and thought it would make a fantastic Movie Monday. Airline, a documentary by the BBC, takes you inside the life of British Airways long-haul pilots (in five parts) as they fly the 747-200 from London Heathrow to Bangkok and then on to Sydney as Speedbird 009.
Perhaps most timely is the section on pilot fatigue and boredom in the wake of the Northwest 188 incident. The discussion centers around the increasing role of aircraft automation and the role of pilots in the cockpit as systems operators rather than aviators. Save for the aircraft types in question, the topics of discussion remain just as relevant today as they did two decades ago.
Parts two through five are after the jump. Enjoy!
on November 9, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply
Really nice one! Its really interesting to see the controversy at the end of the documentation and to see how the situation is today
on November 9, 2009 10:48 PM | Reply
The ending is very interesting. That controller described, essentially, datalink and its integration into the FMS!
on December 1, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply
Wow, that's a blast from the past. About the time when this documentary was shown by the BBC British Airways started actively recruiting for pilots, something they hadn't done for a long time. This show was one of the primary reasons I never sent them my application. Despite being an aviation enthusiast most of my childhood this stopped my ambitions to be a pilot instantly, the job just looked so tedious. I went and became an engineer instead. I still love airplanes but I don't regret not becoming a pilot for an instant.
on December 1, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply
Wow, that's a blast from the past. About the time when this documentary was shown by the BBC British Airways started actively recruiting for pilots, something they hadn't done for a long time. This show was one of the primary reasons I never sent them my application. Despite being an aviation enthusiast most of my childhood this stopped my ambitions to be a pilot instantly, the job just looked so tedious. I went and became an engineer instead. I still love airplanes but I don't regret not becoming a pilot for an instant.
on December 1, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply
Wow, that's a blast from the past. About the time when this documentary was shown by the BBC British Airways started actively recruiting for pilots, something they hadn't done for a long time. This show was one of the primary reasons I never sent them my application. Despite being an aviation enthusiast most of my childhood this stopped my ambitions to be a pilot instantly, the job just looked so tedious. I went and became an engineer instead. I still love airplanes but I don't regret not becoming a pilot for an instant.
on December 1, 2009 8:21 PM | Reply
Wow, that's a blast from the past. About the time when this documentary was shown by the BBC British Airways started actively recruiting for pilots, something they hadn't done for a long time. This show was one of the primary reasons I never sent them my application. Despite being an aviation enthusiast most of my childhood this stopped my ambitions to be a pilot instantly, the job just looked so tedious. I went and became an engineer instead. I still love airplanes but I don't regret not becoming a pilot for an instant.
on December 2, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply
Wow, that's a blast from the past. About the time when this documentary was shown by the BBC British Airways started actively recruiting for pilots, something they hadn't done for a long time. This show was one of the primary reasons I never sent them my application. Despite being an aviation enthusiast most of my childhood this stopped my ambitions to be a pilot instantly, the job just looked so tedious. I went and became an engineer instead. I still love airplanes but I don't regret not becoming a pilot for an instant.