Accurate 3D landscape stored in onboard memory, several pre-loaded scenarios to look for and application of aircraft performance (incl degraded etc) to that scenarios will give you much more safe and accurate plan to be executed
Several preloaded scenarios?
Can you expand on that a bit? In my mind it would be several million pre-loaded scenarios but I'm well aware that I am no expert in software programming so may have misunderstood.
This is a very interesting conversation. Personally I think it won't happen in the next 100 years but I'm enjoying the arguments put forward.
I would appreciate a response to my comments regarding human error:
One assumption that non- pilots make a lot in this thread is that pilots cause more problems than they create. The opposite is true. From planning stage to disembarkation we are recognising and mitigating errors made by software designers ( incorrect coding of waypoints etc) engineers, ATC, aircraft designers, meteorologists, baggage handlers, load control staff etc. Notice any similarities between these parties? They all have human input to the system, sometimes years in advance.How do we remove that human input? We can't, we would just be moving it away from the aircraft.
Pilots, like every other human make mistakes, but don't forget that we also recognise and fix them.
I am unsure how we could get away from the human error ( which is the aim) because the Human input is still there. One big difference is that the programmer or Engineer or Baggage handler isn't motivated to get things dead right by the fact that they are doing 400mph at night in poor weather like a pilot is.