Kam Majd, author of High Wire
On Tuesday, May 9, I had the privilege of interviewing Kam Majd. Mr. Majd is an Edgar Award-nominated author who was a pilot at American Airlines for 35 years, most recently as a Boeing 777 captain based in Los Angeles, California. His book, High Wire, tells the story of a young female pilot flying an aircraft contaminated with a lethal computer virus. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Joshua Kupietzky: How did your background shape you and your career path?
Kam Majd: I have flown for about 45 years, and flying has been something I have loved from the time I was a kid. The writing portion of my career was similar. As pilot, being in the cockpit and having those many hours between flights and between places, my mind started to wonder. One of the places it wandered to was about how technology has made aviation so much easier, so much more automated. I wondered, What if this automation goes wrong somewhere along the line? That led me down a rabbit hole and a story began to form.
JK: What is your backstory about your interest in aviation, and what aircraft did you fly during your career?
KM: Throughout my 35 years with American Airlines, I have flown all of the Boeing aircraft in their fleet and a majority of the Airbus aircraft in their fleet. I was a captain on the 777 and on the Airbus 319, 320, 321 and a first officer on the 777, 767, 757, DC 9s, DC10s. Prior to that, I flew general aviation aircraft, from single engine Cessnas to Kingairs to Learjets. Like most people, I worked my way towards heavier equipment to get the experience to eventually fly for the airlines. Most people got their start at the airlines in the 1980s and 1990s this way.
JK: Automation dependency is perhaps one of the most complex subjects in aviation today. In your opinion, have manufacturers gone too far? Are "The Children of the Magenta Line'' as defined by Captain Vanderberg (1941-2016), an unconsidered safety issue?
KM: In just a single generation, aviation automation has come a long way. Aircraft have gone from having three pilots to two pilots, but this has also made things simpler for pilots. If there is a problem on an airplane now, most of the time, the aircraft will tell you what that problem is, rather than you having to decipher it. Also, with that automation comes a substantial amount of dependency on computerization and electronics. Automation has also made air travel safer. This is evident by just looking at the safety records of the airline today versus twenty or thirty years ago.
Most pilots are very familiar with the magenta line, which is a road map to the destination from point A to point B. It tells you where you're going, and if you're off the magenta line, then you're off of your course. The magenta line has made flying a lot simpler. Prior to it, pilots would navigate from point to point ground based navigation equipment. We don't have that anymore. Everything is internal through GPS's systems that are within the aircraft. They tell us where to go, so we are not dependent on anything on the ground anymore. It has made things a lot safer and better, but it has also made us significantly more dependent on automation. That is the purpose of the book: What happens if some of this automation fails? We have computers now that check the work of other computers before they accept the information they've been fed. The book considers what would happen if a computer received bad information, but it doesn't know because it has been programmed to accept the information as a result of a computer virus.
JK: A 2011 FAA study found that more than 60% of accidents had to do with automation dependency. How can pilots pick the appropriate level of automations for certain tasks such as landing?
KM: Pilots are able to choose the level of automation that they want to use. For example, most pilots fly from A to B, and 90 to 95% of that distance traveled is going to be on autopilot. Some people use it for 99% of the flight. When they take off, they get to 500 feet, and they turn on autopilot. At the point right before landing, they do so manually. Pilots can keep the automation off for the first 20 minutes of the flight or for an hour of the flight and again during the last hour of the flight. Most pilots do not want to be hand-flying all the way down to the destination, but it's up to the pilot to choose. Part of the training from the airlines is to learn the manual portion in the event that things do go wrong.
JK: How has the increase in the level of automation on airplanes affected pilots? Have you seen a shift in the dependency on the autopilot during crucial parts of the flight such as take off and landing? Is there a common understanding among pilots that their responsibilities for flying the aircraft have decreased?
KM: The automation is capable of doing almost everything out there including landings at most airports. Automation has definitely contributed to accidents. When a pilot is 100% dependent on the equipment, and that equipment or instrumentation fails, accidents happen and can cause all kinds of issues. But as long as one is aware of it and is able to balance the automation and manual flying, it is nothing but a benefit. Airlines do not teach 100% dependency. With the new automation, aircrafts can autoland in bad weather as long as they have the right equipment on board. Sometimes, it is necessary and useful to autoland if a storm is coming or there is fog. Even in those cases, there is always a chance the equipment will malfunction. Sometimes that is visible and sometimes it is hidden. Therefore, always being aware is key for pilots.
JK: Your fiction book is about a female pilot flying an aircraft that is infected with a lethal computer virus. How likely is this scenario to happen in real life?
KM: This is a work of fiction. When I did the research, I spoke with people familiar with the manufacturing of both Boeing and Airbus aircraft. While it is extremely unlikely, it is possible. The people who I've spoken with told me that it is possible, and they suggested that I send copies of the book to the security departments of both Boeing and Airbus just to be aware of the fictional world I created.
JK: What was the reason behind having a female protagonist in your book? In your opinion, what does the aviation industry need to do to appeal to more women to become Pilots?
KM: Today, the number of women in the cockpit is only around 6%. It is not a field that is just dominated by men; however, this field is almost exclusively male. It is not like 30 or 40 or 50 years ago when it was a very difficult situation to become an airline pilot, especially if you were a woman. But that's not the case today with the current pilot shortage. Airlines are looking for good qualified people, so if someone is interested in the field, they have a good chance of walking into an airline cockpit at some point in their career. Once I came up with the story, I was trying to find a character who could tell the story. I chose a woman.
Many years ago in the cockpits of airplanes, there was a tradition of Playboy centerfolds hidden in different parts of the cockpit. Guys would sit around and look at the centerfold picture and put it back for the next guy because almost everybody in the cockpit was a man. There was an occasion on a flight from LA to New York when the flight engineer walked in, and it was the two of us in front of the flight engineer who was a brand new female pilot. The other gentleman just pulled out a picture and, out of habit, looked at it. He realized very quickly that it was inappropriate and put it back. The flight engineer happened to see the picture and was very cordial, but we had crossed the line. It was something we needed to start to think about, and it was something we'd never thought about previously, so we quickly put the picture back. I started thinking about how awkward this was and how weird it was to have out there.
Based on this experience, I knew the protagonist needed to be a female because it would further complicate things for the character. In the book, she gets blamed for the computer virus just because she's a woman.
JK: In recent months, there have been a number of close calls involving commercial airplanes. Why is this happening? And in your opinion what should be done?
KM: More training should be done in order to figure out what went wrong and then to fix it. I am not sure why these close calls are occurring. However, during COVID there was a period of decline for the airlines and the entire industry that was just unheard of before then, even in a post 911 world. So, when you start thinking about how quickly airlines have to become smaller and also lose pilots, air traffic controllers, ground personnel, etc., it was unheard of. There were airplanes flying with one passenger, and this went on for a year and a half.
Air traffic controls had the same issue, so they laid off people and many took early retirement. Fast forward to post COVID, and the demand for travel has substantially increased. It is similar to air traffic controllers. So, the massive shortage of personnel, along with all of the new people being trained just as quickly as possible, is necessary to keep up with demand.
The number of retiring pilots is higher than iit has ever been in the industry. Airlines hired all of these pilots at the same time, around the 1980s, and now they're all retiring at the same time because pilots have to retire once they turn 65. It is going to continue this way for at least ten years, and the number of pilots who are going to retire will be at record numbers. Thankfully, the technology systems are solid and they're going to be using them. that should reduce the number of pilot shortages.
JK: As a pilot, what are some secrets from the flight deck that you can shed light on?
KM: There is a lot going on between the companies and the unions and such. This information is mainly public record, and one can look that up and see what it's like. An event like COVID and has influenced the bottom line of financial numbers for the airlines affected individual pilots. There are a lot of changes that people are having to get used to. The bankruptcies created in the post 911 world caused many pilots to lose a significant portion of their retirement savings causing them to work more flight hours. For decades, the retirement age for airline pilots in the United States was 60, and in 2007 they changed it to 65. Now, they're talking about potentially taking it to 67 or even beyond.
JK: Finally, What advice do you have for young aviators who want to become pilots and who want to have a career in the aviation industry?
KM: The perfect time is now. There is a pilot shortage that is going to last for a long time, and it means you're almost guaranteed to get a job. First, obtain the education and background you need. Things are not up to luck anymore. Being able to interview the proper way and then say the right things to the right people is important. If you're qualified, and understand what you're doing, you will get a job. You will progress fast, make more money than before, have better time off, and work in a safe environment.
