Homicidal autopilots

[Jack Daniels Eq]

Exactly - its the same folks who never bother to check oil & tires - their wrecks are in the CHP yards for the world to see - or who purchase a firearm and some wonk disarms & shoots them. They never went to charm school either
All this goes to the Einstein infinity versus mans stupidity thingy ... where he states categorically that he now has some serious doubts on the infinity bit. Amen!!

[ancient kayaker]

Surely the auto-pilot instructions have all that lawyer-inserted text that includes "do not leave unsupervised", not for steering an automobile", "do not immerse in water", "not suitable for children under seven" etc?

I recall seeing a program on a modern jet which crashed: turned out the auto-pilot was designed to stop controlling the ailerons if the pilot moved the stick but to keep operating the other control surfaces. Nobody told the pilots, so before the crash the cockpit recorder hears the pilots desperately trying to figure out why they were flying almost upside down.

I just bought a new toaster. about 3 lines on how to use it, not very clear, and reams of crap on all the ways you can kill yourself if you really want to do that with a toaster.

My wife's flowers came with care instructions which include the warning "not for consumption". Geeze, if I'd known that I wouldn't have bought them; suppose she got hungry?

[Frosty]

You cant compare a 200dollar auto pilot with that of an aircraft, and yeas they do suddenly do this 90degree thing .If you hav'nt experienced it you need more sea time.

However -I dont think they do it any more, its been some years that I heard of one doing it, but I had one that did it twice for no reason ,compass swung, no aliens around, no one switched the radio on ,--which was always blamed.

I did not buy that brand again, Brand withdrawn for obvious reasons.

[marshmat]

Originally Posted by ancient kayaker

I just bought a new toaster. about 3 lines on how to use it, not very clear, and reams of crap on all the ways you can kill yourself if you really want to do that with a toaster.

From http://xkcd.com/293/ :

[Frosty]

I keep finding lizards in the crumb tray of my toaster. I suppose they go for some crumbs.

You know the little geko things. Only in Thai they area Jingjok.

[Brent Swain]

Look up the word "Dictionary" in the dictionary. A little hand comes out and slaps you in the face.
Brent

[rasorinc]

A hand held control for an auto pilot on a boat lets you walk out on the aft deck with eyes wide open and be ready to run to the helm in super fast order.

[Fanie]

Electronics can be very reliable if it was designed to accomodate the possible hazards. If it works in a wet environment it has to be waterproofed, if there is emi it must be shielded, it should consider certain behaviour patterns and give audible alarm when certain cryteria is exceeded.

The problem is most manufacturers want to spend $5 on the product but want to sell for $1500. So they go skimpy on protective measures since it's not obviously noticable and most have the idea they hope the customer gets it wet and it packs up or a bit of static gets on an input and blows it, then have to come buy another one.

[Frosty]

If you are on auto pilot in confined areas you should'nt leave the helm.

It says on the box--an aid to navigation and a continuous look out should be maintained.

When mine did it sometimes I would leave it to see if it would eventually return the the preset heading,- it did not, It recovered some but about half.

[rasorinc]

when trained as a pilot (aircraft) your eyes sweep the gauges every 20 seconds, 30 seconds at most. The auto pilot lets you stretch--that's all.

[MikeJohns]

Originally Posted by Frosty

You cant compare a 200dollar auto pilot with that of an aircraft, and yeas they do suddenly do this 90degree thing .If you hav'nt experienced it you need more sea time.

However -I dont think they do it any more, its been some years that I heard of one doing it, but I had one that did it twice for no reason ,compass swung, no aliens around, no one switched the radio on ,--which was always blamed.

I did not buy that brand again, Brand withdrawn for obvious reasons.

Interference has been a significant problem with many pilots particularly from VHF transmission when they would commonly go hard over. The Tiller pilots were really bad for this when the input was the electronic compass and this endangered boats when running in heavy weather , not just shipping channels.

Modern autopilots work off the NMEA data stream more commonly the GPS position and derive their heading from that They seem much more reliable and better shielded and noise filtered.

[peter radclyffe]

Originally Posted by marshmat

From http://xkcd.com/293/ :

this sums up american lawyers, where common sense is like a kryptonite cash cow

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by rasorinc

when trained as a pilot (aircraft) your eyes sweep the gauges every 20 seconds, 30 seconds at most.

And what happens when stewardess enters the cockpit?
Hmmmm, this makes me think about the real origin of the word "cockpit"...

Ok, ok, I'll leave now...

[ancient kayaker]

OK, I think he's gone. So what does happen when a stewardess enters the cockpit?

[Fanie]

He switches the autopilot on.