[gurps] Failing autopilots and RVO

[Troy Guffey]

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From: "Knapp" <magick.crow at gmail.com>

> In what way is a routine operation different from an emergency one?
> Plane companies have records of what goes wrong and how often. They
> can program for this just as well as anything else. On top of that the
> computer can react faster and will never make a mistake with good
> programming. Also the computer might have data that a pilot could lot
> get quickly enough in an emergency like air pressure over the wing,
> material stresses and other subtle factors of flight. Did you look at
> just how much ground info that robot spy plane can gather? I am sure
> it could be programmed to use that for a very nice ditching. This
> plane could take off, fly, land and taxi 10 years ago!


Even if an autopilot *has* been programmed to respond to all previous 
emergencies, vehicles will still find new ways to go wrong that require 
genuine *creativity* to handle.  There is no possible way to program *every* 
possible emergency.

obGURPS:  Does the Routine Vehicle Operation program include things like "if 
both wings are blown off and the fuel is on fire, and the megaton nuke 
missile armed but failed to release"?  :-)

--
Troy Guffey
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