Originally Posted by
John Farley
First and foremost DO NOT let the chances of pilot-less passenger aircraft happening affect the way you pursue your ambitions. A couple of months before I was due to get my RAF wings in 1957 the Minister of Defence of the day announced that the RAF would use no more manned fighters so those on my course who were expected to go to fighters were sent home on indefinite leave. After a while common sense sorted things out and off to fighters we went.
But the strategic manned bombers did shrink a lot. Valkyrie was cancelled - replaced by (unmanned) ballistic missiles.
What exactly should be the capabilities of an UAV be in respect to See And Avoid other traffic?
Passenger aircraft avoiding other passenger aircraft rely on their TCAS Resolution Advisories. They are told to obey a RA even if ATC tells them otherwise - in a German crash, the Russian pilots were faulted for obeying ATC.
Why then have a pilot there? Why shouldnīt the autopilot be capable of obeying any RA-s that the planes reach?
Also, there is a plenty of stuff in air which TCAS does not know of, but which nevertheless should be avoided. Wasnīt just a collision between military plane and sailplane - it was said that the sailplane didnīt even show up on the radar of military (probably much less on TCAS).
What would you be more afraid of - a sailplane which has a pilot trying to see and avoid you, but which you cannot see either on radar or TCAS, or an UAV which is not intelligent enough to take See and Avoid action on its part, but which broadvasts TCAS warnings?