[SystemSafety] Critical Design Checklist

[Les Chambers]

Peter
I put it to you that modern aircraft are redolent with panic buttons, the lead actor being the lever/button that engages the automatic pilot ... Leaving the pilot free to perform more important tasks ... As I once personally witnessed 40,000 feet above the Arabian Gulf back in the day when traveling systems engineers were welcome in 747 cockpits. Deep in conversation over cockpit ergonomics we were interrupted by a flustered air hostess declaring an emergency. She could not get the cork out of a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. 
Cheers
Les

Les Chambers
Director
Chambers & Associates Pty Ltd
www.chambers.com.au
0412 648992

On 28/08/2013, at 7:06 AM, Peter Bernard Ladkin <ladkin at rvs.uni-bielefeld.de> wrote:

> 
> 
> Les,
> 
> On 27 Aug 2013, at 22:37, "Les Chambers" <les at chambers.com.au> wrote:
> 
>> On the subject of human fallibility. Humans seem to be most vulnerable and fallible in emergency situations. In chemical processing automation the most important device on the Control Panel was the "panic button". 
> 
> Such buttons may have their place in some process industries. They are completely out of place in a cockpit. I don't think that there is an appropriate answer to the abstract question. If you specify the application, there is often an industry-wide "sensible" answer. But it may not be right...
> 
> PBL
> 
> Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, University of Bielefeld and Causalis Limited