Modern technology/automation and the need for flight crew.

[Lew747]

Hey all,


This is something that has been increasingly bugging my mind for the last couple of months. It's to do with automation and the need for airline pilot crews in the distant future.

I see how airline SOP's require greater and greater use of the autopilot and I have a great fear that just around the corner some modern bit of kit is going to be released that will control all aspects of aircraft flight, from taxiing to landing. This of course would be the boot for the 2 pilots up front and i'm sure they will develop these computers to do tasks much better than humans ever could.

Does anyone think the same? I know we've got new aircraft like the 787 and A380 that still require crew, but who's to say the next generation of aircraft, something us wannabe's may end up on, will not require any form of pilot in the first place. (Well, maybe some flight manager to keep the passengers at ease!)


Lewis :)

[One9iner]

I don't think this would happen for a long time. Passenger safety is King. What happens if a computer fails? have a back-up? what if that fails? what if an engine fails? what if both fail? There still needs to be human being managing the machine!! I know as a paying passenger I wouldn't get on a pilotless plane. Would you?

We're not dealing with a pilotless RAF drone dropping bombs, or the driver-less DLR railway near Canary Wharf which has many fail-safe systems.

[v6g]

I think we'll see it sooner than many believe. Still "two crew" but the second crew member will be sitting in an office on the ground monitoring hundreds of flights.

The technology is already mature, it's the public perception that will take time to adapt, but adapt it will, just as it has done in the past.

I expect the next generation of aircraft to still have 2 seats up front, but for the certification flights one of them will be empty.

Look what happened to the radio operator, the navigator and the flight engineer.

As much as we pilots love to moan about declining terms & conditions, there's a reason for it: improvements in technology removing much of the responsibility of the guys up front.

[C-17 GLOBEMASTER III]

No pasengers would fly an aircraft without a pilot. If anyting future aircraft will need more flight crew because of the upcoming new propulsion technologies. We may see the flight engineer position re emerging.

[Groundloop]

If the US Airways A320 had not got any pilots on board, what would have happened?

Would the computer have tried to get back to La Guardia or reach Teterboro? I doubt it would have thought of ditching in the Hudson. Computers cannot make decisions like that.

[clanger32]

Groundloop hits the nail on the head - computers are only ever as good as the information they are given. To make a pilotless aircraft would require the computer to be able to assess every option open....but that's where the human is inherently superior to a CPU .... we have the ability to think "outside" of normal parameters. You could not possibly ever program EVERY eventuality.

However, this isn't to say that we're not going to see less and less influence on the flight deck, with the skills transferring from more "flying" to "monitoring"....all of which will probably make the career less attractive...