I’m not sure how big the difference is on auto-pilot between marinecrafts and aircrafts, so apologies for including both in the question.
It sounds like it makes the ship/plane run itself, without any need for a person to control it, but how could that be the case? These machinaries sound like they should be steered and watched at all times. It sounds dangerous to leave them on an “auto” mode.
Is there an in-depth explaination behind what auto-pilot does? What are its limits? Is it possible to go wrong in some way, and if so, does it have some kind of alarm?
In: Technology
I’m from a marine background.
The autopilot on a shop in its most simple form is controlling the heading. You (the Officer Of the Watch) will input the desired heading – say 045, and the autopilot will use the input from the compass to control the rudder and steer 045.
Other options include the ability to counter the effect of wind and tide – you tell it what course you want to steer and it works out what direction the head needs to point. Say you want to steer that same 045, but there’s a bit of a wind – the autopilot calculates that it needs to steer 040 to maintain a course over the ground of 045.
With the introduction of electronic charts, it’s even possible to tell the autopilot to follow a specific course. It will even automatically turn the ship onto a new heading. You can programme in specific rates of turn or maximum rudder angles or even a specific turn radius for the autopilot to follow.
The autopilot doesn’t monitor traffic or weather, so having an OOW on the bridge (as a bare minimum) is essential. Having additional personnel is desirable. The company I worked for generally had 2 lookouts (both also qualified helmsmen) and an OOW on the bridge. During the day, the Captain and Navigator would be on and off the bridge or the charthouse, and were always easy to find if you needed help or advice.
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