On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 fell into the Atlantic Ocean on a routine overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 passengers on board. While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, here is what Federal Aviation Administration investigators think unfolded on that fateful night.
Four hours into the flight, the Airbus A330 experienced turbulence and extreme icing, causing its speed sensors to malfunction and stop transmitting critical information to the plane's automatic pilot, which apparently caused the plane to slow down. The pilots in the cockpit shut off the autopilot before the plane stalled. Unfortunately, they were as blind and confused as the autopilot. Rather than increase the plane's speed and thus lift, they apparently slowed the plane even further, a move contrary to basic rules of flight. As a result, the plane began to stall and plummeted to the sea.
If this course of events is true, it raises a question: How could seasoned pilots for a top airline, flying one of the industry's most advanced jets, not know how to regain control of the stalling aircraft? Investigators concluded that modern airline pilots spend so much time minding automated systems and so little time actually flying that some are not up to the task of piloting a plane when the automation fails.
So why are we telling you about Flight 447 in a story that is supposed to be about automobiles? It's a warning: We fear that car drivers, pilots of the roadways, are becoming too reliant on automated systems and have let their driving skills lapse, and even worse, that our kids will never know how to drive without these systems.
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Smarter Cars
While not as automated as airplanes, cars are clearly becoming increasingly computerized. These computers have input in controlling everything from braking to navigation to traction. Anti-lock braking systems keep us from braking too hard. Traction control keeps us from skidding out. Adaptive cruise control makes sure our vehicles automatically maintain speed and slow the vehicle when it comes too close to the vehicle in front. And these are only a few of the technologies that automakers are working on to make vehicles safer. Their efforts are paying off; vehicle-related fatalities are at an all-time low.
However, what happens when these automated systems fail? Will we — or, more importantly, will our children — be up to piloting an automobile without all the high-tech bells and whistles?
Frankly, we don't know. So, just what skills are in danger of disappearing? Here, we list five driving skills that are very important but that are becoming increasingly unnecessary.
View Slideshow: Where Have All the Simple Cars Gone?
Manual Shifting
Fewer than 10 percent of new cars sold have clutch pedals, and driver's education courses haven't featured manual transmissions in their cars for decades. Consequently, the chances that a driver will encounter a manual transmission along with someone willing to teach them how to use it are growing rare. Even the Richard Petty Driving Experience, a NASCAR-themed driving school, has found it necessary to push-start patrons so they can take off in fourth gear for their oval-lapping fun.
It's a shame, really. Manual transmissions provide unexcelled vehicle control. But probably their greatest benefit is that they more thoroughly involve the driver with what he or she is supposed to be doing: driving. It doesn't take a behavioral scientist to conclude that a more engaged driver is a safer driver.
Watch Video: Not Your Typical Driver's Ed Ride
Parallel Parking
Parking a minivan parallel to the curb, between two other cars, used to take lots of practice and patience. Today, a driver can hit a button and the car will parallel park almost by itself. The newest self-parking systems scout for a suitable parking spot while driving past parked cars, then control the steering while the driver operates the throttle and brake during the actual parking procedure. In other words, the parking computer makes all the tough decisions.
Anyone learning to parallel park such a car certainly won't be eager to try their skill in a conventional auto, which leads us to believe drivers will become even less serious about judging close distances and turning radii.
Read: Seatbelts, Airbags and Other Lifesavers
Braking
Brakes were one of the first systems to be automated with the adoption of anti-lock braking in the 1980s. Lately, more automation has arrived, with brakes that press harder if deemed necessary by a computer, along with the brakes' self-application via radar-guided cruise-control systems. All are much appreciated, and clearly the advent of full-time radar-controlled brakes awaits foreseeable technical refinement, not to mention the legal shielding needed by the first manufacturer brave enough to offer them.
We predict that hitting the brakes is such a primal human response to danger that we can't imagine drivers will ever cede 100 percent of a car's stopping duties to a computer. But what is being lost is fine braking control, the skill of applying just the right amount of braking power under difficult conditions.
Watch Video: 'Road Raves': What to Do After a Car Accident
Car Control
OK, handling a car on snow or ice was never a strong point of driver's education programs. "Steer into the skid," whatever that means to a clueless teenager, was about the only advice offered. But today, anti-skid, traction and stability-control electronics have changed the game. Add in a meaningful percentage of all-wheel-drive SUVs on the road, along with excellent snow tires, and today's drivers rarely experience a pulse-raising slide until there is nothing they can do stop it.
Offsetting this are all those electronics, which do an admirable job of reconnecting the steering wheel to the pavement. But do today's young drivers learn the same respect for winter snow or summer downpours that their parents did? It's unlikely, and when the situation goes suddenly bad, do these drivers — like our airline pilots — have the skill necessary to save the day? Or more importantly, does a driver who has come to rely on electronics to stay straight in the snow ever build the knowledge to identify especially challenging driving conditions? We can't see how.
Read: 5 Life-Saving Driving Techniques
Headlight Operation
What could be easier than turning a car's headlights on and off? Years ago it was that simple. Now auto-on headlights and daytime running lights are here to add a touch of complexity. Drivers can place the headlight switch on "auto" the day they take possession of a car and never touch the headlight switch again.
For many this is convenient, but all courtesy and common sense about headlight use seems to be dying. One of the worst offenses is headlights left blazing while the car is parked on the shoulder at just the right angle to blind oncoming traffic. It's as if never having to handle the headlight switch means never having to think about where the headlights are shining.
Read: Techie Features for Winter Driving
What Should Be Taught
Taken one at a time, none of the technologies we've highlighted is a meaningful threat to drivers' abilities. But together they form an environment that minimizes hands-on skills and, more importantly, disengages the driver mentally from driving the car. In aggregate, these technologies are isolating the driver from the road and others on it.
So if they aren't teaching parallel parking or manual shifting, let's hope driver's education programs include a strong dose of decision-making skills. The new technologies may make many older driving skills nearly obsolete, but knowing where to look and what decisions to make is more important than ever.
Longtime Road & Track contributor Tom Wilson's credits include local racing championships, three technical engine books and hundreds of freelance articles.
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