Pilotless aircraft
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Pilotless aircraft
Just been reading this article on Economist, the topic is about unmanned aircraft.
pick a little section below which i felt is quite interesting...like to see what people think...are we soon heading to unmanned aircraft?
"Commercial flights carrying freight and express parcels might one day also lose their on-board pilots. But would even the most penny-pinching cut-price airline be able to sell tickets to passengers on flights that have an empty cockpit? More realistically, those flights might have just one pilot in the future. Technology has already relieved the flight deck of a number of jobs. Many early large aircraft had a crew of five: two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator. First the radio operator went, then the navigator, and by the time the jet era was well under way in the 1970s flight engineers began to disappear too. Next it could be the co-pilot, replaced by the autonomous flight systems now being developed."
Pilotless aircraft: This is your ground pilot speaking | The Economist
pick a little section below which i felt is quite interesting...like to see what people think...are we soon heading to unmanned aircraft?
"Commercial flights carrying freight and express parcels might one day also lose their on-board pilots. But would even the most penny-pinching cut-price airline be able to sell tickets to passengers on flights that have an empty cockpit? More realistically, those flights might have just one pilot in the future. Technology has already relieved the flight deck of a number of jobs. Many early large aircraft had a crew of five: two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator. First the radio operator went, then the navigator, and by the time the jet era was well under way in the 1970s flight engineers began to disappear too. Next it could be the co-pilot, replaced by the autonomous flight systems now being developed."
Pilotless aircraft: This is your ground pilot speaking | The Economist
As the old joke goes:"...this is a recorded message. We repeat that this is a completely automatic aircraft, and nothing can possibly go wrong, click, go wrong, click, go wrong..."
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It is possible and will happen, but fortunately not in my lifetime.
Autonomous Flight Trials
That is the start of some serious research into the whole issue and the pace of development will only get faster.
Your linked article says pretty much the same as the Economist quote in the original post:
"While passenger flights may not lose their pilots for some time, researchers currently believe commercial cargo flights may lose them sooner if the technology proves reliable and safe through similar tests and smaller-scale real-world application. For passenger flights, researchers believe it is more likely that such autonomous systems will first serve as a backup for a live pilot flying in the aircraft."
I would agree with the OP - it will be many, many years before George is alone on the flight deck in front of a cabin full of live passengers.
"While passenger flights may not lose their pilots for some time, researchers currently believe commercial cargo flights may lose them sooner if the technology proves reliable and safe through similar tests and smaller-scale real-world application. For passenger flights, researchers believe it is more likely that such autonomous systems will first serve as a backup for a live pilot flying in the aircraft."
I would agree with the OP - it will be many, many years before George is alone on the flight deck in front of a cabin full of live passengers.
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The reason we are still there is simples. Who would they blame for the crash otherwise?
Can you imagine a row of shiny autojets sat there after one crashes....er climb aboard ladies and gents, these have new update software, honest...
Yea right.
O'Leary would have them in a flash though.
Can you imagine a row of shiny autojets sat there after one crashes....er climb aboard ladies and gents, these have new update software, honest...
Yea right.
O'Leary would have them in a flash though.
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Back in the seventies there were suggestions that the two man cockpit would be reduced to one man, and in the right hand seat a dog.
What is the dog there for??
To ensure that the pilot doesn't touch anything.
Maybe it wasn't a joke?
What is the dog there for??
To ensure that the pilot doesn't touch anything.
Maybe it wasn't a joke?
Any suggestion that 'Hey! Let's just do it with freighters!' ain't going to go down terribly well with those living under the approach.
Last time an autopilot dropped out on me I was on a Cat 3 into Frankfurt.
The fog bank was, by now, halfway down the runway so, rather that start all the paddling in stuff, I just continued for a manual landing - sorted!
Let's see Mr Automatic do that
Last time an autopilot dropped out on me I was on a Cat 3 into Frankfurt.
The fog bank was, by now, halfway down the runway so, rather that start all the paddling in stuff, I just continued for a manual landing - sorted!
Let's see Mr Automatic do that
Last edited by Basil; 26th Nov 2012 at 12:43. Reason: Dreadful punctuation.
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Yes I brought it up last month. To me the biggest problem is security of control. The Iranians have already tntercepted the USAF`s most advanced drone. The possibility of seizing control of a 500 passenger jet doesn`t bear even thi8nking about.
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Back in the seventies there were suggestions that the two man cockpit would be reduced to one man, and in the right hand seat a dog.
What is the dog there for??
To ensure that the pilot doesn't touch anything.
What is the dog there for??
To ensure that the pilot doesn't touch anything.
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O'Leary would have them in a flash though.
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even better though if we could have the CEO's job done by automation - might save us all from MOL's abusive attacks on his customers and his staff.
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To me the biggest problem is security of control
The airlines? No, they never asked for one
Boeing/Airbus? No, they don't have customers lined up and their regular buyers would crucify them if they thought they were funding blue sky research like this and passing the costs on to their bread-and-butter products.
Governments? Come off it, they want UAVs to do their dirty work, end of story.
At the end of the day, who wants pilotless airliners, and why? There are only two conceivable reasons, safety and economics. The safety case will never be proved, and the economics (fuel more expensive = crew relatively less so) will never overcome passenger resistance.
Not in my lifetime of the one after, anyway. maybe when the Chinese take over the world they will do it ther way, money no object, anything is possible
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The SSK
This topic will be discussed ad infinitum on PPRuNe.
Shortly after which, pilotless airliners will become a reality.
Shortly after which, pilotless airliners will become a reality.
If it is actually discussed ad infinitum and then becomes reality, we are safe from Unmanned aeroplanes forever - ad infinitum indeed. 
Roger.