Thomas Borchert writes:

Well, Jose, if that statement doesn't qualify as utter BS, I don't know
what does.

The FAA doesn't think so. In its 1996 report on the subject (prepared
jointly with NASA), it listed a number of accidents that can be
directly attributed to problems with situational awareness linked to
the use of automated systems:

29-Dec-1972 Miami L-1011 Eastern Airlines
31-Jul-1973 Boston DC-9-31 Delta Airlines
28-Feb-1984 New York DC-10-30 Scandanavian Airlines
19-Feb-1985 San Francisco 747SP China Airlines
26-Jun-1988 Habsheim A320 Air France
3-Jul-1988 Gatwick A320
Jan-1989 Helsinki A320 KAR Air
8-Jun-1989 Boston 767
14-Feb-1990 Bangalore A320 Indian Airlines
Jun-1990 San Diego A320
11-Feb-1991 Moscow A310 Interflug
20-Jan-1992 Strasbourg A320 Air Inter
14-Sep-1993 Warsaw A320 Lufthansa
13-Sep-1993 Tahiti 747-400 Air France
6-Jun-1994 Hong Kong A320 Dragonair
26-Apr-1994 Nagoya A300-600 China Airlines
21-Jun-1994 Manchester 757-200 Britannia
30-Jun-1994 Toulouse A330 Airbus
24-Sep-1994 Paris A310-300 Tarom
31-Oct-1994 Roselawn ATR-72 American Eagle
31-Mar-1995 Bucharest A310-300 Tarom
12-Nov-1995 Bradley Intl. MD-80 American Airlines
20-Dec-1995 Cali 757-200 American Airlines

This is not an exhaustive list of such incidents, of course.

Note the huge preponderance of Airbus in this list; Airbus likes to
add automation gadgets to their aircraft, and problems are common,
both because of defects in the systems, and because crews do not know
how to use and interact with the systems.

Improved training and gradual bug-fixing have reduced the rate of
incidents for large aircraft.

Unfortunately, increasing FBW automation of small aircraft is going to
produce a huge increase in such incidents among private pilots, along
with a general dumbing down of private pilots (as has happened in
large airliners). The pilots most likely to die will be those who
refuse to believe that a problem exists.

So you see, that statement does not qualify as utter BS. And you do
indeed create the impression that you do not know what does, so I'll
agree with you on that point.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.