It will be trained, no different to you were, it will be trained only once and replicated into thousands.

I’ll never understand why, as a society, we’re so hell bent on putting people out of work. It’s already been said, but if true AI is realised, it won’t just be Pilots out of work. Given humanity’s history of “looking before they leap” we’ll have all these fancy self flying Aircraft with no one buying tickets because the population is unemployed and broke.

But I digress...

Currently I cant even leave old mate alone for 5 minutes to take a leak without a CC member supervising them. So Single Pilot + AI will be a very interesting discussion in terms of who’s actually in Command. The AI or the “Captain”.
Secondly, right now, there’ll be no shortage of Pilots suitably qualified to babysit the AI, having done their “apprenticeship” as FO’s. Once it’s all single Pilot, will kids be going fist “Solo” in an Airliner?

I've (hopefully) got 20 years give or take left in the saddle, and I can definitely see Long-Haul becoming 2 Pilot, single Pilot Cruise in my career, but Single (or no) Pilot is a ways off I imagine.

Ignoring everything else, I can see Liability being the big brick wall in this endeavour. When (not it) one of these fancy AI Aircraft crash, and the manufacturer can’t blame the Pilots, and the class actions start rolling in, and Airlines around the world are forced to ground entire fleets until the software is fixed, will it really be worth it?

Boeing and Airbus sell the Aircraft, they don’t employ the Pilots. How much liability are they going to willingly accept so their customers can save a few percent on operating costs?

If every other form of transport becomes fully automated during my career, I might start to worry. But given most trains still have drivers and they’re on tracks, I can’t see us being replaced in my lifetime.

Yes, single Pilot cruise is likely coming to Long-haul, and yes, the jobs going to get even more automated and tedious, but there will till be 2 Pilots up front for Takeoff and Landing.

And this fantastical machine will make decisions? Think for itself? Or will it still require a human to tell it what to do?

I’m still to see an autopilot make a good decision, and I am yet to see a human make good decisions 100% of the time. I HAVE seen an experienced, well trained crew use an aircraft system as a tool in the operation of the aircraft, and I’ve seen such crews cross check each other’s work to virtually eliminate errors.

Good luck to you Xeptu, you’ll probably want to get a command quick smart then, you know, before all the airlines sack FOs because the computer is doing your job.

I think you need to stop channeling L. Ron Hubbard and step back into reality. Whatever robot F/O your freakshow imagination comes up with will need to be certified by the FAA and EASA before it gets used on a revenue generating flight. There are no shortcuts with that process especially after Boeing tried to sneak their MCAS wunderkind through.

Yes it will make decisions the same as you, think the same as you, operate the same as you. It's a synthetic human, you'll enjoy working with it, it knows more than you.
I know it's difficult to imagine, but 30 years ago, we couldn't have imagined WiFi either.

....send drunk suggestive text messages to F/As same as you.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....012e87a69.jpeg

The fact they can't automate simple processes yet makes me wonder how something as safety critical and complex as aviation is magically going to be automated with ensuing mass layoffs. And it still begs the question of what problem are you solving by automating it?

I read in the paper today that Wharfies are threatening to shut down the country again. Yet people think that Pilots are going to be redundant in the near future. If we can't or can't afford to automate something so simple as a wharf how are we going to automate an aviation network??

Drivers required for USS Enterprise. No more humanoids however now accepting Vulcans.

I know it all sounds 24th century, but we are further along than you think. How Amelia will be rolled out, I see a short sim session with a few unsuspecting Captains, the objective to see if you notice she isn't human.

When she gets plugged in might be the first clue. :confused:

She'll be already in what appears to be a normal seat, greet you by name and a smile when you take your seat. the objective is to keep you in the dark about what she is as much as possible. If it's successful, you won't know until the session is complete and you have left the simulator. Only those behind you will know. If none of the subject captains twigged that something isn't quite right here then she's ready.

Oh FFS. Who thinks up this ****? Is that you BNEA320?

No! but the reaction doesn't come as any surprise, it wasn't all that long ago it was the exact same response about women.

Hahaha, that’s gold Jerry, gold!

So when the briefing officer tells you’re briefing on your own and that the FO is waiting in the sim, that’ll be your first clue.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9358aec2b1.gif

All the hip cool kids get theirs in a box!

Hey Pilot , you buy me a box of “ White Lady in a boat “ ?
(Lindeman’s Moselle ) ?
You can puk me if you do !
Luv U long time !

Really?
 

Just an update(!), the crew that are still fortunate enough to be flying, that there are indeed material changes being implemented (to T's and Cs / EBA's etc etc) The shrewd operators are using the Covid smokescreen as the perfect opportunity - regardless of profitability of the said business or not - to continue the race to the bottom for aviation professionals remuneration. Sad fact is, when things do start to stabilise, there is likely to be a direct impact in the form of an accident or incident owing to the distraction of all things Covid, recency, currency, standards, mental health (in the form of distractions) ........ the list goes on.

I was lucky to be part of the industry in the Golden Era. First as a passenger as a boy and then finally got into GA and then a domestic airline. Left the industry many years ago and feel for the younger guys and girls who fought hard to get into the airlines like me. The industry has changed so much that I feel the regulator has lost touch with the real life challenges of both GA and RPT ops. Despite my age I gained a lot of skills from the old timers who were my instructors and examiners of airmen in the DCA in the late 1960's onwards. There are now so many restrictions and rule changes that I feel are there to protect the regulator from indemnity rather than focusing on safety. Can still remember when, during my initial twin endorsement in a Twin Camanche, we unintentionally got into a flat spin with the late James Hazelton who suggested we try a full power stall, We were lucky to get out of it but Jim had a technique for recovery talked me through it rather than taking over. The next day we told the head examiner of airmen DCA at Bankstown and he had the flight manuals amended so as to prevent such incidents.
In those days the DCA and Bureau of Air Safety worked together. The great thing about those days were that if you experienced an abnormal incident you could be honest with the regulator in the interests of safety. Although I have a lot of experience in the industry and would like to impart the knowledge to the younger generation I do not have faith in either the regulator nor the ATSB in its present form. Thus because of my age and my distrust of the industry in it's present form I doubt if I will ever return.

Bloody hell boaccomet4,

I did a Queenair endorsement with Jim nearly 30 years ago and thankfully spin practice wasn’t on the program!

Boa that reads as if you started flying when you were about 9 y.o.

As you are aware 737 MAX probably exceeded its limit & should have been a new design.

Airbus can probably upgrade one or two more times until it needs a clean sheet also.

The Boeing wallet is currently burning because they wanted to save the operators a few bucks on staff costs, will they do it again?

The next step of cutting staff costs will be in the new clean sheet designs & they will need to be radical to cover development costs and get market share.

There are a few options to start the process, I see no (or small emergency only) windscreens or remote second pilot as options to create a bridge of reduced staff costs.

They already have. The Max is close to being recertified. If they wanted the expense of a clean sheet design they would already have started the process. In the current climate neither Boeing or Airbus have the financial capacity to start developing a pilotless airliner. The next new design if there is going to be one will be a narrow body. The narrow body environment is even less likely to go single pilot than the wide body.

Probably??? Have a read of the report, Boeing engineers and execs (some) blatantly lied to the FAA.

Any way, the entire debate about over whether two pilots should be reduced to one is based purely on the assertion from airline CEOs that pilots are too expensive. Those claims have never been proven, it’s CEO hearsay.

Mate I really feel for you and others like you in your position. FWIW Hex should never have been available for pilot's full stop, it's just not that type of profession. In light of the fact that you're already in I would not despair. One thing I can tell you after 30 plus years in this game is that a pilot surplus precedes a pilots shortage shortly thereafter. 5 years from now things will be looking much more positive and provided you stay in touch you should get a start if your still interested. In the mean time assess your options and if nothing presents maybe re-skill and start something else. You never know you might never look back. Whatever you do don't let it get you down and as hard as it is be positive about whatever your doing.

SN

I don’t think there will be another episode of pandemic hysteria. Despite the fact that the media and the government is still trying to peddle that wheel as fast as they can, behind closed doors they admit the response was seriously flawed and fails the cost/benefit model that socialized medicine usually follows. This was a one time deal..even a real pandemic couldn’t justify the response we’ve had.

On the the other hand there’s still climate change waiting in the wings whether it’s real or imagined, it’s still possible it gets used politically to shoot aviation down again (and modern civilization with it)