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Testflight with 'unmanned' Jetstream

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Old 29th Nov 2012, 02:00
  #21 (permalink)  
 
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I read the article, but I don't believe for a moment 'pilots' will operate the aircraft from the ground....i think you do, and i apologize for not making it clear that the article is pure hype, imho.

A security guard at a midnight shift monitors perhaps a dozen CCTV screens for twelve dollars an hour. When something goes wrong, he calls police.

Why hire the same pilots you evicted from the cockpit to sit at a counter eating Taco Bell to 'fly' the same aircraft?

CATIIIb doesn't need flying, it certainly doesn't need 'monitoring'.

Are you thinking we are returning to hand flying? But from the ground? One step forward, two steps back.

Thanks Meeb.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 06:14
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I think that the important point of this project is not that it's just an autopilot flying a plane from A to B. It's an autopilot that can do that and can also react to its surroundings - such as other aircraft nearby. It's to demonstrate the technology that allows unmanned aircraft to fly around without crashing into each other.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 06:50
  #23 (permalink)  
 
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I read the article, but I don't believe for a moment 'pilots' will operate the aircraft from the ground....i think you do, and i apologize for not making it clear that the article is pure hype, imho.
According to BAE Systems, the dramatis personae are:

Aircrew - 2 plus 3 test personnel
Ground crew - 2 (UAV commander plus flight test observer)

It's not made clear what the "UAV commander" role consists of.

http://www.baesystems.com/magazine/BAES_051920/look-no-hands
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 07:36
  #24 (permalink)  
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People, read the facts, it is ground based crew flying it, not a drone or bloggs with his feet up watching the autopilot...
Meeb, a drone is an aircraft flown remotely, it matters not where the pilots are as long as they are not in the drone its self.

The Americans have, of course, already achieved true autonomous flight:

The US Navy's new bat-winged experimental drone has been delivered to an aircraft carrier to undergo handling tests aboard the ship.

The Navy said that sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman took delivery of the drone on Monday from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, where it had been undergoing tests.

Truman is the first aircraft carrier to conduct test operations for an unmanned aircraft.

The drone, named the X-47B, is designed to perform one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers: landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all.


With the drone's ability to be flown autonomously by an on-board computer, the X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare.

Currently, combat drones are controlled remotely by a human pilot. The X-47B could carry out a combat mission controlled entirely by a computer. A human pilot designs a flight path and sends it on its way, and a computer program guides it from a ship to target and back.


Read more: US Navy Aircraft Carrier Tests New Drone | X-47B | Photos

Last edited by green granite; 29th Nov 2012 at 07:37.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 08:05
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How soon before the CAA revivies the wheeze that all flying objects (including skydivers) must be fitted with transponders? - at the owner's cost, not paid for by the UAV users, naturally.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 08:19
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I can't vouch for the accuracy but..

3. Drone Crash Database « Drone Wars UK
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 08:23
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They could use it on freighters, at least the cargo won't feel nervous having no pilots on board.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 09:28
  #28 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Meeb
Read the article!
Why read a foreign media report when you can read the operator's own description?

The BAe information makes it clear that the systems being tested are those that allow the aircraft to fly itself, being responsible for its own situational awareness and making the necessary adjustments when the situation requires.

They are not testing auto take-off or auto-land - the two pilots on board will handle those phases of the flight, and will also be on hand if (or when ) Hal can't figure out whether the bright light dead ahead is a star or an oncoming aircraft.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 09:39
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It would be a solution for jetlags I guess.....
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 10:33
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They are not testing auto take-off or auto-land - the two pilots on board will handle those phases of the flight
Let's hope so.

"I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, Dave, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen"
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 11:21
  #31 (permalink)  
 
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They are not testing auto take-off or auto-land - the two pilots on board will handle those phases of the flight, and will also be on hand if (or when ) Hal can't figure out whether the bright light dead ahead is a star or an oncoming aircraft.
Never mind that they will need someone to reset the overtemp when it comes on. And make up witty excuses when they rape the runway when it lands.
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Old 29th Nov 2012, 13:48
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Take a look at this

In other news.......The US Navy has begun testing an almost fully autonomous drone that can operate from an aircraft carrier. It is capable of carrying out combat missions and mid-air refuelling without any real-time human interaction.

Source:
X-47B Drone Boards Carrier For First Time

The X-47B, designed to fly autonomously as an unmanned strike aircraft and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, was taken aboard the USS Harry S. Truman Monday at Norfolk naval base, Va., for its first shipboard tests. The aircraft will undergo three weeks of testing, both at Norfolk and along the Atlantic coast, to confirm on-deck handling, control and performance. In a news release, Monday, the Navy did not directly state that the aircraft would undergo flight operations, but that it would "demonstrate seamless integration into carrier flight deck operations." Carrier launches and recoveries of the X-47B are not expected until next year and could mark all new and controversial capabilities for Naval operations.

The X-47B is designed to be capable of carrying out combat missions without real-time human interaction. It can be programmed ahead of time to fly missions autonomously, guided by onboard systems designed to deliver it from a ship to its target and back. Aside from automated shipboard launches and traps, the drone is meant to also be capable of automated refueling. It hosts a weapons bay capable of holding 4,500 pounds. Its 62-foot wingspan is wider than the Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet -- a notable difference for shipboard operations. On the Truman, members of the carrier's crew and engineers will use a hand-held controller to maneuver the aircraft on deck.
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Old 3rd Dec 2012, 20:03
  #33 (permalink)  
 
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will the robot pull the feather lever/prop control if they lose one?
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Old 3rd Dec 2012, 20:17
  #34 (permalink)  
 
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Its not that stuff they are doing sevenstroke.

Its dodge the cessna and the fat bloke in a microlight without having to touch the controls using sensors in only a passive look and see mode.
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Old 3rd Dec 2012, 21:14
  #35 (permalink)  
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Take a look at this
In other news.......The US Navy has begun testing an almost fully autonomous drone that can operate from an aircraft carrier. It is capable of carrying out combat missions and mid-air refuelling without any real-time human interaction.

Source:
X-47B Drone Boards Carrier For First Time
Massey1Bravo, we did, in post#24
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Old 3rd Dec 2012, 23:36
  #36 (permalink)  
 
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The most popular passenger jet is an aircraft designed in the sixties.
Yet here we are up in arms about unmanned passenger jet drones?

Guys, this is still aviation. We don't move at quite the same speed as the rest of the world
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Old 4th Dec 2012, 10:25
  #37 (permalink)  
 
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It doesn't look like a difficult thing to achieve these days. The USAF have landed a Global Hawk at Ramstein within the last few years...there a plenty of UAV's in use all over Afghanistan, many of which are locally controlled for take-off and landing but controlled from the States for tactical ops.

I did hear an "aircraft accident" broadcast over there when a UAV went off the side of the runway..."Zero P O B".....the ambulance turned up anyway
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Old 4th Dec 2012, 12:59
  #38 (permalink)  
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Operating airline UAVs would not be too difficult.

Saving money by operating them would be impossible.
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Old 4th Dec 2012, 14:03
  #39 (permalink)  
 
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Pilots are the weak link in the system as is evidenced by 30+% of all accidents being attributed to "pilot error."
So 30% of all accidents , but if it wasn't for the pilots being there the accident rate would have been 100% of all flights

There wouldn't be any aircraft left after a day or so
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