Its Maui , no disrespect intended. The point we are trying to make is that moving towards pilotless / autonomous airliners has so many technological , non technological and other issues that we professional pilots know for certain that they will take several decades to be overcome. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of difficult issues , whether they be legal , liability , policy decisions and other hurtles to solve. Just wishing it to happen is not enough. It would cost hundreds of billions , at what benefit ? Cost benefit analysis ?
As an example , you said that " ATC will issue vectors and priority to an autonomous airliner with technical issues " means to me that you haven`t grasped the numerous issues involved. It`s not as easy as you think. There is more to it than vectors and priority. What if , for example , the weather is CAT 3A and there is an onboard navigation failure downgrading the aircraft to Cat 1 only , how about a blown tire on takeoff , a dual hydraulic failure ? Throw in some weather , icy runways , ...are you starting to get it ? The first crash and it`s game over.
Computers can`t solve everything. Computer code is susceptible to faults / failures / hacking. The algorithms would not cope. ATC has their limits. The sky is only so big. Things break.
Finally , as this is merely a discussion about pilotless airliners , don`t you think it would be beneficial to know and understand the issues in their entirety before you go yanking out the most critical safety device on the aircraft , the pilot ? I`m certain if you knew what we know , you would agree. No malice intended. Facts are facts and this issue of pilotless / autonomous airliners is most certainly something only your grandchildren " might " see.
Last edited by 6000PIC; 20th Jun 2017 at 02:11.