Hi all,
It's "been a while since I posted" so here goes...
I'm not a commercial pilot, so please be gentle with me...
I have read this thread with much interest and I notice that a lot of comments have been made with regard to UAV type flying of commercial airliners.
I don't want to get involved with discussing the safety aspects (I think this is going to be done to death without my help) but what about passenger comfort in this scenario?
With the crew up front inevitably in control of the aircraft, they can "feel" what's going on. They can feel the effects of banking, turbulence etc. and rather like a motorcycle rider, have a much better understanding of the limits of his/her machine than the pillion passenger. Also, the pillion passenger feels the effects of cornering, acceleration much more than the rider because the pillion doesn't know exactly when or how the machine will be handled.
In an aircraft, I would assume that, although it is usually flown well within structural limits, the pilots would control the aircraft in such a way that would render the journey comfortable for the passengers, rather like our thoughtful motorcyclist. (Seemingly if structural limits of the aircraft were even close to reached in flight, most people would feel rather unwell...)
A UAV pilot, would be completely detached from the situation and would have no sense of the real movement of the aircraft. The only indications that peoples inner ears / stomach would start to bother them would be fluctuations of instrument readouts, sensor readings etc.
Unless the UAV pilot was full time in a full motion SIM type UAV controller monitoring all the sensors / instruments, I doubt that passengers would appreciate this kind of travel...
Does anyone see what I mean? Does passenger comfort even matter under normal circumstances from a flight trajectory / aircraft handling perspective?
Cheers
Rich