( CNN ) -- By now , everyone should know that aviation is the safest way to travel : Even in parts of the world with a `` high '' accident rate , that rate is still far below other ways to get from point A to point B . This level of safety is due to a tradition of hard work and technological advances that must continue . New threats emerge every day , but through proactive efforts in data collection and analysis , we do n't have to wait for an accident anymore -- we can mitigate these risks before they become real problems . So how do we square those facts with terrible tragedies such as Air France 447 ? Plane crashes do still occur , even with state-of-the-art aircraft . Everyone in the industry must continue to work hard on safety . With the Air France 447 final report published this week , we now have a clearer picture of the events that led to this tragedy . The report concluded that a series of errors by pilots and a failure to react effectively to technical problems led to the crash . We already knew much of what we happened that evening : The autopilot shut itself off when the air speed indicators failed and the plane `` handed itself '' to the co-pilot . For the next several minutes , it should have been a pretty benign situation , but the flight crew made some inexplicable decisions and ultimately the plane crashed in the ocean . What we must now try to understand is why the pilots reacted the way they did . In the past decade , we 've seen tremendous advances in automation in the cockpit . This automation has proven to be vital to raising the level of safety in aviation even higher and also to provide more efficient airline operations . It has removed some of the threat of human error during normal operations . Pilots now spend most of their time monitoring the automation . But what happens when the automation turns itself off or fails for some reason ? Q & A : Has Air France Flight 447 mystery been solved ? The elephant in the room has always been that training standards have not kept up with the technological changes in aircraft . In the early days of aviation , training included how to recover from some of the most commonly-faced emergencies , such as a lost engine during take off . These scenarios are no longer common , yet the training has not changed significantly to recognize this new reality . Automation used to be the pilot 's assistant . Now the pilot is expected to back-up the automation . That is a fundamentally new task that the industry has n't trained for . Regulators around the world need to acknowledge this and work to change the basic requirements in training programs . Pilots need to know what it feels like to stall at high altitudes and train on how to recover . They need to know what to do when an airplane is suddenly handed to them during an abnormal flight situation by the autopilot turning off . They need to learn what to do and perhaps most importantly , what not to do in order to avoid increasing risk . Some of this will require a renewed emphasis on manual flying skills , but new training will also have to be developed to address the fundamental new relationship that has developed between man and machine . There are a number of airlines around the work who are already changing their training standards to reflect this and we applaud this effort . All airlines should do this . They should not wait for their regulators to act . As with any tragedy , there will be a temptation to focus on blame and political posturing , but AF447 is a case where politicians and judges should keep a respectful distance . There is some serious technical work to be done , and the aviation community needs to act quickly and objectively . It is a responsibility that the entire aviation community embraces and we are confident that the safety professionals will find solutions that ensure that tragedies like this do n't happen again . It is a debt we owe to those who have been lost . News : Who 's really flying the plane ? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bill Voss .
Final report on crash of Air France flight 447 concludes human factors to blame . Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris . Investigation focused on pilots reactions to instrument failure , autopilot switching off . Voss : Flying is safest way to travel , but more must be done to improve pilot safety .