The days of the VOR are numbered: the humble ADF holds out now only in remote areas, low-budget airfields where the traffic is thin and aviation still clings to the fading pretence of romantic adventure. GPS is sweeping all away, paving the future for free flight without airways, direct routings backed up with TCAS and talking computers. Charts rarely leave their folders, save to find an unknown reporting point, to block the sun or perhaps just to relieve boredom.

The aircraft are starting to talk to each other, the electronic jargon of FMS leaving the pilot time to sup his tea and remember when he had to do some of this work himself. Yet now he is not encouraged to, the computer knows best. Captain Megabyte is safer, not subject to random bursts of inefficiency fuelled by sleep deprivation or illogical emotional reasoning. He is not affected by blood sugar levels or envy. He doesn't worry about retirement. He's not likely to develop some form of dependency. In fact, Captain Megabyte is the perfect pilot. Captain Megabyte has been told exactly what to do, and will do it to the letter, or rather, the byte. Captain Megabyte leaves the human pilots time to think about important things, like, who is really flying this aircraft? He doesn't sit there hoping no-one turns the satellites off. The pilot trusts the computer, because he has to, as the passenger has to trust the pilot. Captain Megabyte does not have to worry about anything. Of course, he makes mistakes sometimes, thinking he's supposed to be doing something else, like thinking he's landing when actually he should be overshooting, but that's not his fault. That was the program. A human wrote the program, which just serves to illustrate Captain Megabyte's best point. He is not human. Humans are best left to talk to each other on the radio, and to ask Captain Megabyte to do what they want - as long as it is not too illogical.

Yes, the digital age is upon us. Nowadays there are pilots who know nothing else; the digitisation of aviation a logical step on the way to efficiency. There's bound to be a few teething problems. The mix of aircraft in the skies now make it more difficult for crews flying older aircraft. ATC expect you to be able to dial in a speed and sit back and watch. On the aircraft I fly, it's easier to fly it manually when you're given stepped down descents and speed control.

Recently I was line training a guy who'd come from an ATR, on which he'd flown as Captain for three years. Now, this guy had flown for us years before, so it was just a matter of re-familiarisation. Strangely though, three days and ten sectors later, I still hadn't checked him out. His flying was smooth enough, but not very accurate. It seemed to be a problem with his scan, his scan just was not quick enough. Now this guy had about fifteen thousand hours, so I was a bit flummoxed for a while. Then it finally clicked, and I should have realised sooner. The guy had got used to looking at just one screen rather than a cluster of instruments. The glass cockpit does not need a scan, and as a result he was having to re-learn something that he'd always taken for granted. We had a chat about it, and a few sectors later he was checked out.

I've nothing against glass cockpits (though a friend of mine is convinced he's being nuked by EMF), nothing against Flight Management Systems or any other technological advancement of aviation, but it is a bit sad that basic flying skills are becoming more redundant as time goes on. The days of the stick and rudder man are numbered, it's the psychometric test that counts now. Being a good pilot is not enough, you've got to be a diplomat, you have to be versed in the current jargon, all those three-letter abbreviations., all those buzzwords. Flying is no longer about calculated risks, it is about eliminating risk, which is as it should be. The aircraft manufacturers are trying to make the interface between man and machine as seamless as possible, which necessitates giving the machine the ability to make decisions and teaching the man to think like a machine. The days of the natural are numbered. The fighter pilot of tomorrow is the arcade ace of today. Modern pilots have grown up with video games, giving them the digital dexterity that the latest generations of aircraft require. It's a virtual world up there now. It's virtually over for the seat of the pants. The airlines want clones.

Biggles wouldn't get past the interview.

The purists among us argue aviation has lost its soul. It's just progress. The primary purpose of aviation is transport. If you want fun, buy a Pitts. Notions of nostalgia don't pay the rent. It's a digital world, up there now, and Captain Analogue is hanging up his hat. Me, I won't be involved for a while yet. TCAS and RNAV are about all I have to deal with . The rest of it is pretty much as it has been since the aircraft was built, thirty odd years ago. I like flying, and all aeroplanes fly. I can't say I don't want to fly by wire - I've never tried it. It's where it's all at, though, whether we like it or not. When the time comes, I'll trade in my CR5 for a laptop. I can't remember how to use it, anyway.

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