Pilotless Planes
- Thread starter SkyRider
- Start date
We're basically there already. Planes can already take off, land and maintain a course on their own.
I think the report was published by UBS (the big Swiss bank). Apparently, human pilots are very expensive and there is currently a shortage. Maybe, they can have humanlike robots sitting in the cockpit to give the impression that there are humans in control (LOL).
To quote our friend Fuji: "Wear a helmet".
Seriously, I think a lot of crashes and near misses are caused by human error. That Air Canada near miss was probably human pilot error. Even Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark) had a near miss. Then there was that crazy German pilot who deliberately crashed the plane.
On the other hand, Sully landed his plane safely in a river.
P.S. Just saw on the news that getting rid of human pilots would save the industry $35 billion. That's a lot of coin and will probably reduce your airfare (no need to save Air Miles).
Human pilots are on planes mostly for emergencies these days. Most accidents, by far, are caused by the meat in the seat, not the wires in the dash.
Would I be nervous? The first couple of times, probably. That's just human. But I'd do it. And I'd get used to it.
Legitimately, they could probably switch to a single pilot system to save costs and it wouldn't cause any statistically significant increase in safety issues while saving a bit of cost. I wouldn't have any problems with that. A single human pilot for emergencies would be a reasonable decision, IMO.
Would I be nervous? The first couple of times, probably. That's just human. But I'd do it. And I'd get used to it.
Legitimately, they could probably switch to a single pilot system to save costs and it wouldn't cause any statistically significant increase in safety issues while saving a bit of cost. I wouldn't have any problems with that. A single human pilot for emergencies would be a reasonable decision, IMO.
All modern aircraft have multiple redundant computer systems. It would take a catastrophic failure of multiple system to take a plane down regardless if a human or automation was flying the plane.
Computers can still get confused if the plane's various sensors are not working properly. There were a number of crashes caused by such sensors giving off conflicting information. I remember seeing an episode of Mayday on Discovery that talked about conflicting readings that caused a crash. I think it had something to do with a blocked pitot tube, which is needed to measure air speed. Since it the pitot tube was blocked, the air speed indicator was not working so that confused the autopilot and the human pilots.
I wouldn't count on airfares being reduced. Airlines would use the excuse that the software is expensive.
That's what I was thinking too. This BS of no pilots on planes and driverless cars needs to be scrapped. If I'm still living when all cars become computerized, I'll give up driving.
Automated systems are superior to humans.
As I understand it, some military stuff is un-flyable with out a computer.
As has been already stated,...its pretty much all automated now,...pilots don't have their hands on "stick" anymore, they turn a knob, or enter values.
I'm sure I'm going to get attitude form some pilot here,...could care less.
Hired a cat in the Caribbean a while back, the "skipper" used the automated system to run everything, said it was better than any human.
Would I feel comfortable without at least one pilot up front,...nope.
As I understand it, some military stuff is un-flyable with out a computer.
As has been already stated,...its pretty much all automated now,...pilots don't have their hands on "stick" anymore, they turn a knob, or enter values.
I'm sure I'm going to get attitude form some pilot here,...could care less.
Hired a cat in the Caribbean a while back, the "skipper" used the automated system to run everything, said it was better than any human.
Would I feel comfortable without at least one pilot up front,...nope.
For that to happen, Internet access on board the plane would have to be a lot faster and directly connected to the flight system. Neither of these is the case right now.
Exactly. Many modern planes are designed with unstable air frames so they are more maneuverable. The trade off is that a human cannot fly it without automation.
IMO, if majority of people (say 65% more) won't board a pilotless plane, it'll never happen, simple economics, if there is no demand, no supply.
