Future of Aviation
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Future of Aviation
Hi,
I wanted to find out your opinions on flying in say 30-40 years. Obviously you can't predict the future but most wannabes on this forum who are just starting to fly will, hopefully, still be flying in 30-40 years. Do you really want to fly aircraft which are only likely to get even more automated then they are now? They will never eliminate the Pilot i'm sure but what pleasure, bar the view, will there be in flying comercially?
I'm not quite sure whether Aviation will advance as much as that, as aircraft like the 757 are still being produced and will surely be flying for quite a few years to come but all opinions will be greatly appreciated....
La Fantasque.
I wanted to find out your opinions on flying in say 30-40 years. Obviously you can't predict the future but most wannabes on this forum who are just starting to fly will, hopefully, still be flying in 30-40 years. Do you really want to fly aircraft which are only likely to get even more automated then they are now? They will never eliminate the Pilot i'm sure but what pleasure, bar the view, will there be in flying comercially?
I'm not quite sure whether Aviation will advance as much as that, as aircraft like the 757 are still being produced and will surely be flying for quite a few years to come but all opinions will be greatly appreciated....
La Fantasque.
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I'm sure they'll try and eliminate the pilot somehow, and hopefully fail... In all honesty I believe that things will be pretty much as they are now; ok 777's will be old hat and the EFIS displays and the cockpit generally will become even more user friendly but I reckon unfortunately that the pilot will be there simply to monitor the aircraft. By that I mean monitoring the computer doing the take-off/route/landing all by itself. Even the ATC and navigation (changes/diversions etc) will probably be done via data links to satellites etc... I don't like this idea myself, but I can see this being the likely route commercial aviation will take.
I firmly believe that the F in flying was meant to stand for Fun, as such there maybe a chance of this vanishing in commercial aviation. But there will always be smaller regional airlines that will be slower to embrace this technology due to cost, so there will be a place for more hands-on pilots. Plus you may get the opportunity to do tourist flights to the Moon, you never know. (Mars?) Plus there is Nasa trying to make flying body aircraft that skip over the atmosphere, that could be common by then.
Providing that flying does not continue to become elitist (i.e. more expensive), I reckon all pilots should be relatively safe in 30/40 years or so...
SS
I firmly believe that the F in flying was meant to stand for Fun, as such there maybe a chance of this vanishing in commercial aviation. But there will always be smaller regional airlines that will be slower to embrace this technology due to cost, so there will be a place for more hands-on pilots. Plus you may get the opportunity to do tourist flights to the Moon, you never know. (Mars?) Plus there is Nasa trying to make flying body aircraft that skip over the atmosphere, that could be common by then.
Providing that flying does not continue to become elitist (i.e. more expensive), I reckon all pilots should be relatively safe in 30/40 years or so...
SS
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I was watching a program on pay T.V the other day called Wings, it was documenting an Air Candada flight from Toronto to Frankfurt. They had interviews with the Capt. and F/O, they were showing their point of view on how much aviation will change in the next 30 years or so. NASA at the moment is testing a new program in which makes ATC have the same dials and instruments as what the aircraft in the sky have, which will allow more aircraft in the sky at any one time. The more aircraft we have in the sky the less room we have for pilot error so adversly we will see computers take over the role of a traditional pilot.
Pilots in aircraft such as the 400 series jumbo and other advanced airliners consider themselves more as managers then a hands on pilot.
I believe the technology in aircraft at the moment will lead us well into the century, as the majority of the new technology has just started to take over the old anologue type cockpits, fair enough EFIS has been around for about 20 years now but not all aircraft have adopted it. I think it will be about another 20 years before we see another sort of major instrumentation change.
If we have airliners flying at altitudes high enough to skip over the earths atmosphere I think then that we have to have computers doing most of the thinking for us, as we would have to be some sort of super human to keep up with it. For instance on approach what do you think the approach speed is it could be as fast as 400 knots and I dont think any pilot could carry out his or her checks and land that aircraft saftley without the assistance of a computer or the computer doing it soley by itself.
Regards, Wowie
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if your gonna die, die in a kingswood
[This message has been edited by wowie (edited 05 July 2001).]
Pilots in aircraft such as the 400 series jumbo and other advanced airliners consider themselves more as managers then a hands on pilot.
I believe the technology in aircraft at the moment will lead us well into the century, as the majority of the new technology has just started to take over the old anologue type cockpits, fair enough EFIS has been around for about 20 years now but not all aircraft have adopted it. I think it will be about another 20 years before we see another sort of major instrumentation change.
If we have airliners flying at altitudes high enough to skip over the earths atmosphere I think then that we have to have computers doing most of the thinking for us, as we would have to be some sort of super human to keep up with it. For instance on approach what do you think the approach speed is it could be as fast as 400 knots and I dont think any pilot could carry out his or her checks and land that aircraft saftley without the assistance of a computer or the computer doing it soley by itself.
Regards, Wowie
------------------
if your gonna die, die in a kingswood
[This message has been edited by wowie (edited 05 July 2001).]
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DT, we will never know until the time comes when we do have these sort of aircraft flying day in day out. My point of view on these aircraft is they will not happen for another 50 or so years but scientists are predicting they will be in service within 30 years.
Your probably right about the approach speed I got a bit carried away.
Regards, Wowie
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if your gonna die, die in a kingswood
Your probably right about the approach speed I got a bit carried away.
Regards, Wowie
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if your gonna die, die in a kingswood
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I've visited the aviation university of Delft last month. They are working on the next generation of precision navigation for aviation. In 10 years time you will all be flying tunnels. They were showing a demo where the flight path was presented to the pilot by means of rectangulars where you have to fly through. They even did a life test already with a real pilot using this form of navigation aid. They claim the equipment is so sensitive that you even wouldn´t see the conventional ILS needle moving. In ten years time the airspace will be too crowdy. Seperation is going to be smaller and smaller. You need precision instruments for that and they are working on it. To be honnest, it scared the hell out of me 
Be ready to become a computer geek on the joystick
Be ready to become a computer geek on the joystick
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I think the fundamental question remains that,
Is anyone going to get onto a plane without a pilot on it?
Since airlines are customer focussed, operating an aeroplane as advanced as this could prove damaging.
However, that's not to say that I am ignorant of this issue;it is worth consideration to anyone considering this career. I am just of the opinion that things wont be as bad as has been suggested.
Is anyone going to get onto a plane without a pilot on it?
Since airlines are customer focussed, operating an aeroplane as advanced as this could prove damaging.
However, that's not to say that I am ignorant of this issue;it is worth consideration to anyone considering this career. I am just of the opinion that things wont be as bad as has been suggested.
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Thanks for all the interesting opinions.
I sincerely hope that aviation dosen't become as futuristic as some of you say. The reason I want to one day become a Pilot is not to monitor a computer flying through triangles but to experience what a lucky few experience now. It will be a sad day when Pilots are only managers of a computer. With the technology around nowadays at least you get to fly interesting approaches. What I'm about to say may not go down very well with many of you but perhaps sooner or later we will have to face up to the fact that we really will become 'glorified bus drivers'.
La Fantasque.
I sincerely hope that aviation dosen't become as futuristic as some of you say. The reason I want to one day become a Pilot is not to monitor a computer flying through triangles but to experience what a lucky few experience now. It will be a sad day when Pilots are only managers of a computer. With the technology around nowadays at least you get to fly interesting approaches. What I'm about to say may not go down very well with many of you but perhaps sooner or later we will have to face up to the fact that we really will become 'glorified bus drivers'.
La Fantasque.
