Pilots make flying an airplane look easy, almost automatic. So what are all those hundreds of buttons and controls in the cockpit for?

Question

Pilots make flying an airplane look easy, almost automatic. So what are all those hundreds of buttons and controls in the cockpit for?

In: Other

Answer 1

Cockpits for a very long time were analog systems. That means every switch did exactly one thing. There is one switch each to turn off engine 1, 2, 3, and 4. There are 4 switches for engine fire suppression. The wings and fuselage have many moving parts, each with separate controls.

They add up fast.

While computers can manage most of this, arguably making the switches obsolete, you still want to have control when there is computer failure.