Originally Posted by
Tourist
As a slight aside, it seems to me that autonomous aircraft would mean that less aircraft would end up airborne with emergencies, and aircraft could safely get airborne heavier off shorter runways....
V1 was invented to deal with human failings.
Recognising that humans need thinking time, and have trouble making the correct decision under extreme time pressure and multiple inputs, V1 is a very good idea for humans.
It is binary system designed around a best guess set of circumstances with flex built in for reaction time after history showed that humans kept making the wrong decision.
A computer could simultaneously assimilate enough information about A/C energy levels, actual position on the runway, engine thrust, engine health, A/C acceleration etc to make a tailored decision about each circumstance including making the decision to not get airborne despite insufficient stopping distance available.
Can anybody think of a reason why V1 would have to be retained?
80kts, V1 and go/no go is merely a human-run algorithm, albeit with some human judgement.
There is still a point, depending on performance and weight, at which an autonomous aircraft cannot stop safely in the distance remaining.
Some judgement is needed though and it's not always black and white.
A thread on here maybe a few weeks ago regarding a 738 in Canada I think that got smoke in the cockpit below V1... they continued as it is known that an APU bleed takeoff after deice can cause smoke, and versus an RTO on a contaminated runway they decided continuing was safer option (and I agree).
Can an autonomously flown aircraft detect and decide what's smoke and what's SMOKE? Will it be able to include all factors when weighing up decisions?
I think it would still have a double-level of go/no-go mode, like we have now...
level one (i.e. below 80) it can stop for anything
level two (80 to V1) it will stop for anything major (engine failure or any fire)
level three (above V1) it will continue.
But then if you can suffer a bird strike to the engine after V1 (as has happened several times) you can not implausibly suffer a bird strike to both engines. What does it do in the event of a can't fly won't fly situation?