Modal interfaces considered harmful
A great line from the 99 Percent Invisible episode titled “Children of the Magenta (Automation Paradox, pt. 1)”, regarding the Air France flight 447 disaster:
When one of the co-pilots hauled back on his stick, he pitched the plane into an angle that eventually caused the stall. […] it’s possible that he didn’t understand that he was now flying in a different mode, one which would not regulate and smooth out his movements. This confusion about what how the fly-by-wire system responds in different modes is referred to, aptly, as “mode confusion,” and it has come up in other accidents.
(tags: automation aviation flying modal-interfaces ui ux interfaces modes mode-confusion air-france-447 disasters)