“Actually, I like this one. It gives pilots something to do while the system flies the airplane. Goodness knows what trouble they’ll get into if they get bored.”

Trouble??? You mean like flying past your destination?

LOL

I love it!!!

The usual cause of problems is human error. Pilot enters wrong waypoint in the flight plan. Pilot has the autopilot in the wrong mode. Pilot loads incorrect flight plan.

But sometimes the system will do wonky things. The pilot’s job is to, as Reagan said, trust but verify. Unfortunately I see far too few people doing this. It becomes painfully obvious when I disable the moving map or fail another component of the system. Or simply as a student “where are you?” I can’t tell you how many of them have a hard time telling me the answer, even with a 13″ color moving map right in front of them.

As the technology gets better, the pilot’s own situational awareness gets worse. It’s something we have to be on constant guard against. Sooner or later that’s going to bite someone. Hopefully it’ll just be a minor airpsace issue and not some encounter with the FAA or terrain.

–Ron

The pilot in this video tried to use his GPS as terrain guidance (instead of terrain avoidance) and it was a close a call as you can get (his certificates were not so lucky).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nm8pNgqBAk

Did he know that yellow terrain on a terrain display can be 500 feet ABOVE you? (and just as rock hard as the red stuff!)

NOTE: This product, its packaging, and its components contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.

Good thing the FAA do not insists on having this scary piece of advice displayed as a placard on the panel.