Originally Posted by
Whiplash6
That's exactly what I'm going to tell you... because a computer COULD do that.. and not submerge the aircraft in the process.
A computer wouldn't need to take time to ask the controller where are the surrounding airports; it would already know. It wouldn't have to call for and run checklists; they would be completed in a blink of an eye. It wouldn't have to take a wild ass guess on whether it could make a return back to La Guardia to land on a runway instead of on a river; it would know precisely how far it could glide given the state of the aircraft and the environmental conditions.
I'm not knocking Sully. He did a great job. Far better than most human pilots could have. But better than a computer? Nah
Give a little credit to the Airbus for the assist from existing automation. Alpha protection mode engaged in the last 100 feet and certainly helped the touchdown.
I also wonder what would have happened had a system similar to DARPA's ALIAS been in the right seat of COLGAN 3407 instead of a ill, sleep deprived FO. Not completely removing the human in this scenario but keeping the human from making human mistakes.