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db48x a day ago

That would be slower and ironically less precise than what we already have, which is navigation by named waypoints.

gosub100 14 hours ago | parent [-]

and in this case, the pilot loaded the wrong waypoint (likely from another runway) and flew toward it. It's not slower, either. have you ever entered a waypoint into a flight computer? they aren't exactly built for speed.

IshKebab 12 hours ago | parent [-]

So this would have helped because the plane would have automatically loaded the correct route.

db48x 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Making the traffic controller load a flight plan into the plane’s computer merely changes who will make the mistake. If you want to suggest changes, suggest something that actually has a chance of reducing the rate of errors.

Besides, pilots don’t just blindly follow the waypoints on their computer. The pilots would have spent half an hour before they even got in the airplane reviewing the plan for the flight. This includes reviewing the published departure information for the airport. In that briefing they would have specifically noted that the direction they will turn after takeoff depends on which runway the tower tells them to take off from. They cannot necessarily guess which runway that’ll be in advance.