Pilotless A/C

[David_Lid Air]

Hi.. It bothers me that on every forum that i visit that has to do with aviation i see those threads about how surplus pilots are and that they are a dying breed.

i am a student pilot myself and hope for many years of flying in my life as a pilot, but somehow these coversations make me a little uncomfortable about the future.

what do you think from a professional viewpoint about the future of the Pilot profession?

I donīt see computers taking over in some time but still it would bee nice to hear some comments on this

[Pirate]

Re: Pilotless A/C

David
I'm an experienced airline captain, now working in the Unmanned Air Vehicle field. UAVs are here to stay and they are probably the most dynamic part of the aerospace industry at the moment. That being said, they will become a part of the picture, especially in the "3D" sector - dirty, dangerous and dull - but will not feature largely in the air transport world where people still understand that counter-intuitive judgements that a computer cannot make are sometimes necessary to avert disaster. I would guess - and it's only a guess - that the requirement for military combat pilots may decrease in the next generation but we forget at our peril that there is an awful lot more to aviation than engineering.
Good luck with your aspirations.

[John Farley]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Well said Pirate. Short and to the point.

[Brakes...beer]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I agree. You only have to look at the aircraft coming into service (A380, B787 etc) to see that 2-man crews will be required to fly these aircraft for decades to come. As to the way ahead in civil aviation, I would hazard a guess that some form of freight ac (although to date freight ac have been derivatives of airliners) would be the first unmanned commercial aeroplanes. Only when the public is comfortable with the practice would they get into an unmanned airliner.

I think those born today would have the option of a career as a pilot, but maybe not their children. It is one of those technology-dependent jobs that exist for a century or two and then become obsolete. Lucky we were born when we were.

[ATC Watcher]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I was involved recently with UAV integration into civil airspace , and the FAA position on this is that UAV should fly alonside civil aircraft and follow IFR rules on IFR flight plans.
The procedures are getting in place ( see access 5 project from NASA/FAA ) but the hardware is not yet mature. The global hawks cross the Atlantic every week but it is not yet that convincing for transporting precious goods and humans.

But I foresee in not too distant future ( 5-10 years ) that some "Dull "civil applications like crop spraying , helicopter logging work, watching pipelines or electrical powerlines, or report / relay sporting events,etc. would slowly find they way into specified UAVs. Gallileo with its better precision/reliability/integrity than GPS will also open new ways.

Watching some time ago the (rather bad) "Stealth" movie featuring an UAV, I guess that sort is too far off ( why put a seat / cockpit on it anyway ? ) but on that movie the UAV tanker was a good example of what they soon probably will do.

As a civil pilot you still have some carreer in front of you , but if fuel prices soar badly due shortage or otherwise, the first one to go will be the small ones, as the A380s and the like are (much) more fuel friendly per Tkm or PK .

So try to get to A380 ,or 340/787/ 747/777 if you can , the future is there I guess. for quite some time still, at least the next 30 years, with humans at the controls.

[flown-it]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Good afternoon this is your electronic captain speaking . Welcome to pilotless jet 1 where nothing can go wrong... go wrong ...go wrong...........!
SLF wont stand for that so there will, in your lifetime always be pilots in planes. You will however probably be called systems managers and paid as such!!

[Dockjock]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Crop spraying and heli logging to me are two of the last candidates for a UAV application. Commercial airway-based IFR would be a hell of a lot easier to program than a hover 100' above a mountain forest with gusty winds and a longline. But that's just my uninformed opinion

[eal401]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Eurofighter and JSF/F-35 are very likely going to be the last military manned aircraft built by BAE Systems. The military future is, as Pirate said, in unmanned aircraft. Human piloted commercial airliners are, however, here to stay for a long time.

[DaveO'Leary]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I would imagine before pilotless a/c hardware and software techno would first be applied to road vehicles. Having said that, as of this era who's been on a big dipper and other fun fair rides that are software controlled?

DO'L

[bladewashout]

Re: Pilotless A/C

If pilotless fixedwings are thought provoking , just imagine a pilotless R22 helicopter crop sprayer ....

I wouldn't fancy being in the vicinity of any pilotless helicopter, come to think of it... anyone heard of one yet?

BW

[chornedsnorkack]

Re: Pilotless A/C

How long did it take to get rid of airliner Flight Engineer profession?

I suppose that the First Officer would be dumped some time before the Captain. After all, the planes were invented to be flown by 1 pilot, and there have always been 1 pilot planes.

The 1 pilot planes are now subject to limitations - number of passengers and what else... Who could press to get rid of those limits?

[Old Coder]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I cannot see "pilotless" airliners anywhere on the near horizon. Sure the technology exists - albeit in its relative infancy - but real human pilots (or maybe "flight managers") will be demanded by Joe Public.

And heaven help us all when we allow software/firmware 100% control; the moment the "bad guys" start hacking into that it will make the WTC attacks seem like a picnic :-(

OC

[Ian Corrigible]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Pilotless aircraft and electronic captains ? Please no. It's bad enough today waiting for the little old lady on her way to see her grandkids as she tries to work out which seat is 42K. There's no way she'll be able to locate 101010K...



I/C

[PVGSLF]

Re: Pilotless A/C

How many driverless trains are there in the world?... I think that sums up the chances for pilotless planes... If the computer on the DLR fries then it just comes to a stop and everyone walks away.

[MungoP]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I too think it unlikely that we'll see fully automated passenger transport within the next generation of pilots or aircraft... but there is a distinction between fully automated aircraft and remotely controlled aircraft... the idea of launching 300 pax into the sky then going off for lunch is highly unlikely.... however...those of us here in Afghanistan who regularly see military UAV's taxiing out ahead of us, being controlled by someone in California, can maybe visualise a passenger jet being similarly controlled...
Oh...and if anyone controlling the things from California is reading this...could you PLEEEEEZE taxi a bit faster ?

[David_Lid Air]

Re: Pilotless A/C

I dont get the purpouse of having the pilots on the ground? , Not in an civil airliner anyway

[Jonty]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Would like to see a pilotless aircraft with 235 people on board get into CFU on a ****ty day!

[David_Lid Air]

Re: Pilotless A/C

ok.. But if a Pilot is needed i still want him or her to be ON the aircraft not on the ground

[PVGSLF]

Re: Pilotless A/C

Originally Posted by David_Lid Air

I dont get the purpouse of having the pilots on the ground? , Not in an civil airliner anyway

For the same reason they are not in UAV's ?

[David_Lid Air]

Re: Pilotless A/C

"For the same reason they are not in UAV's ?"

Hehe you mean that the pilots donīt get killed when their A/C been shot down