Even when the 707 was the Queen they managed to fly one via remote control, during a test on something to do with fire but I can't remember whether it was fuel safety or material flammability testing and that was in the 60s. There's been autothrottle forever, too. DC3s were equipped with autopilot. The point being is that for quite some time with technology today airplanes still are very far from being autonomous even after all of that time even though base technology for no pilot aircraft is intact is there a reason that we still haven't done it?
Edit: How could I forget to mention CAT III autoland?
What I really wanna see is a new more efficient supersonic airplane...with pilots.... the tech people are really barking up the wrong tree.
Last edited by Pugilistic Animus; 13th Jul 2020 at 01:40.