The full article...

Airbus Planes to Use Computers
In Crash-Avoidance Maneuvers
By ANDY PASZTOR
May 27, 2006; Page A4

European jet maker Airbus is taking an unprecedented step to expand
cockpit automation: onboard computers that will automatically maneuver
jetliners to avoid midair collisions, without any pilot input.

Known for its pioneering use of computers and software to push the
automation envelope, this time Airbus has decided to cross a new
threshold in replacing pilot decisions with computer commands. For the
first time, flight crews of Airbus planes will be instructed and trained
to rely on autopilots in most cases to escape an impending crash with
another airborne aircraft. Currently, all commercial pilots are required
to instantly disconnect the autopilot when they get an alert of such an
emergency, and manually put their plane into a climb or descent to avoid
the other aircraft.

The change, which hasn't been announced yet, comes after lengthy
internal Airbus debates and despite skepticism from pilot groups and
even some aircraft-equipment suppliers.

In spite of significant pilot opposition, the proposed shift sets the
stage for broader use of computerized safety systems down the road to
protect commercial planes, business jets and other aircraft from other
hazards, including flying into natural or man-made obstacles.

Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. and BAE
Systems PLC, plans to start installing the computerized systems on its
A380 superjumbo jets perhaps as soon as next year, pending regulatory
approvals. It intends to gradually install them on all other Airbus
aircraft, including retrofits for older models.

The proposed systems will ensure that all aircraft "respond correctly
and quickly" to alerts with "less stress on the pilot [and] less
potential for injury" to passengers, said Bill Bozin, a top Airbus
safety official. He said some pilots now overreact to such cockpit
alerts, making extreme maneuvers that can throw passengers around, and
in congested airspace even end up putting the aircraft on a collision
course with still other nearby planes. In rare circumstances, pilots
would retain the option of turning off the autopilot and responding on
their own.

The average passenger probably won't notice any difference in an
emergency, but the concept already is prompting a fair bit of
controversy in aviation circles. Larry Newman, a top safety official
with the Air Line Pilots Association, said his group is wary because
"this tends to lead to getting the pilot further and further away from
the process" of responding to emergencies.

The design approach used by Airbus -- essentially trusting computers to
react faster and more predictably than humans to midair alerts and then
revert to normal flight -- is in stark contrast to Boeing Co.'s approach
of relying on pilot judgment in all emergencies. Before Airbus publicly
talked about its decision, Scott Pelton, Boeing's chief engineer for
electronic systems on jetliners, said Boeing would remain "aligned with
our fundamental philosophy," which "believes the captain is in charge."

Write to Andy Pasztor at