Originally Posted by
FLR-PSA
I wouldn't say aircraft rely on TCAS advisories to avoid other traffic. TCAS is there as a support. Avoiding other traffic involves a lot of different systems including ATC and of course the pilots eyes. For a UAV to employ the same techniques it would require a forward facing camera,
But passenger planes are flying IFR anyway most of the time. Even in clear air above all clouds, they are supposed to fly as if they could not see.
As for ATC, remember that TCAS is supposed to overrule ATC when they give conflicting orders.
Originally Posted by
FLR-PSA
a radar (very heavy equipment for a UAV to carry)
And isnīt it the case that passenger planes use their radars to detect weather and clouds, not traffic?
Originally Posted by
FLR-PSA
All these additions carry a weight and cost penalty and ultimately some one will have to be on the ground listening to ATC and watching radar. Of course, the UAV will be programmed to disseminate radar information and respond to TCAS, but it will still need someone on the ground to control the UAV in response to an ATC transmission. And therefore, the question is this: If the UAV requires even more complex technology than is currently in use AND a pilot of some description on the ground where is the cost benefit of a UAV?
Flying in war zones is great, if it's shot down nobody dies, but in civy space will a UAV cost more to operate than its equivalent manned aircraft? I think it would, in which case, in the cost/benefit world we live in who would buy and operate one?
FLR
Well, is it easier to fly a plane from cockpit or remote-controlled?
A RC plane has a pilot on the ground. A manned plane has a pilot who has to be in cockpit at all times. If there are several manned planes in air at the same time, each of them needs a pilot aboard at all times - and there is still need for ATC tower and ATC controllers on ground. So, what about a team of pilots on ground? Relying on the assumption that the RC planes in air are not in critical phases of flight (landing, close approach, technical trouble) all at the same time, you could keep track on the planes that are in cruise on autopilots and have your pilots manually fly the planes that need attention at the moment... the team being fewer than ATC and in-cockpit pilots would be.