FI: When will we drop the pilot?

[Jetjockey]

Yeah, since we have all these automated trains I guess airplanes are next.


Ohhh wait........there isn't automated trains yet. I don't see pilotless airplanes happening in the next 20 years. By then most of us will be long retired. I hope there is such thing as an automated sailboat so I can dedicate my attention to the blender.

 

[vetrider]

They weren't specifically asked about pilots, but none of these guys brought it up.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-predictions-next-100-years-153137997.html

 

[N1atEcon]

Anyone have the number of US military drones that have gone solo and crashed over the last decade?

 

[5w5flyer]

David Siegel, CEO Frontier Airlines: "The first flight was just 18 miles long"

Really? Everyone understand now why airlines are run so badly.

 

[Flyby1206]

They weren't specifically asked about pilots, but none of these guys brought it up.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-predictions-next-100-years-153137997.html

Umm yes, read the comments by Siegel

? David Siegel, CEO Frontier Airlines: "The first flight was just 18 miles long, but now look how far we can go. Perhaps in the future, experts will be designing futuristic propulsion systems. We could see innovations in aircraft design, local community-based air transport with smaller, higher efficiency aircraft, and maybe even pilotless commercial aircraft."

 

[waveflyer]

David Siegel, CEO Frontier Airlines: "The first flight was just 18 miles long"

Really? Everyone understand now why airlines are run so badly.

Because good ceo's tend to satisfy their sociopathic greed at more profitable ventures- ?
But this particular critique may be quick as the first AIRLINE service was 18 miles.


The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line (SPT Airboat Line) was the first scheduled airline using a winged aircraft.[1] The airline provided service between St. Petersburg, Florida and neighboring Tampa.

OverviewEdit
P.T. Fansler brought in Thomas W. Benoist to start a service using his new airboats to create a service to connect the two cities that were a day's travel apart in 1913.[citation needed] A 3 month contract was signed with the St.Petersburg board of trade on the 10th anniversary of the Kitty Hawk flight on 17 December 1913, according to which the Board of Trade agreed to guarantee meeting the expenses of the airline should it not break even.[2][3] The hangars promised for the airline were not completed, and the freight train holding the green and yellow "Lark of Duluth" was unaccounted for several days leading up to the launch date.[4]

On January 1, 1914 the SPT Airboat Line became the world's first scheduled winged airline service. That same day, Antony H. Jannus piloted the airline's Benoist Type XIV on its maiden flight between St. Petersburg and Tampa.[5] Due to widespread media coverage by the St. Petersburg Times, there were reportedly over 3,000 spectators at a parade accompanied by an Italian band at the departure point. An auction was then conducted for the first round-trip ticket. It was won with a final bid of $400 by the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Abram C. Pheil. Pheil then boarded the wooden, open-air craft for the 23-minute flight[6] that rarely exceeded an altitude of 5 feet (1.5 m) above the water of Tampa Bay.[7] Two additional two Benoist air boats were added to the fleet soon after. One was used to ferry passengers and the second was used to train pilots.[8] Ticket prices were $5 per flight (one-way).[9] The first air-cargo was a bundle of St. Petersburg Times newspapers. Freight rates were $5 per 100 pounds.[9] During operation the federal government decided that the vehicle and pilot should be licensed while performing commerce. Jannus applied for and eventually become the first federally licensed pilot in the United States.[4] The airline continued to make flights until May 5, 1914, five weeks after contract termination.[10] From start to finish, the airline covered over 7,000 miles, 172 flights, and 1,205 passengers.[1]

Commenting on the significance of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat line, Thomas Benoist, the builder of the Benoist airboats, said, "Some day people will be crossing oceans on airliners like they do on steamships today." The airline served as a prototype for today's global airline industry.[11]

The year 2014 will be the centennial of the World's First Airline and celebrations are planned for the occasion including a reenactment of the first flight. Kermit Weeks of Fantasy of Flight is building a reproduction of the original airboat for the occasion. Additional information may be obtained at www.airlinecentennial.org.

 

[RJLoser]

............

 

[vetrider]

Umm yes, read the comments by Siegel

Oops. Missed that. I still don't think any of us posting on this board have to worry about it in our lifetimes, or even single pilot commercial airliners for that matter.

 

[NEDude]

NASA has been doing research with one pilot aircraft at Ames and according to their researchers the logistics required to make single and zero pilot aircraft reliable are very cost prohibitive. In other words keeping a pilot or two in the aircraft is less expensive and more reliable than trying to secure a data link between the ground and aircraft. UAVs have a terrible safety record and there has been at least one instance of one being compromised (hacked by Iran). Can you imagine the collapse of the industry if the data link between ground and aircraft goes down or is hacked, even for a minute or two?

I know the NASA research is showing that when everything is fine and dandy, a single pilot operation is feasible, but when an aircraft experiences anything more than than a minor anomaly the reliability and safety drops well below that of two pilot airliners. Plus how will airline pilots gain experience? You will either have periods of time when you have to put pilots with zero experience in aircraft or you will have to be doing a lot of flying around with two pilots anyway.

From a technical standpoint single pilot or zero pilot is possible, but the safety, reliability and the public acceptance of such a scenario are still a long ways away.

 

[CapnVegetto]

I think a much more realistic scenario will be a single pilot on board flying the airplane and a dispatcher type guy on the ground in radio/cellular contact that can help during emergencies.

Lets face it, the job is easy as hell when the weather is beautiful and everything is working. 1 guy can handle it fine. But throw in a busy IFR environment, an emergency, or a combination of the two and all of a sudden it's something that very few people can handle effectively. At that point, ESPECIALLY in a big, complex airliner, you NEED two pilots. Bad.

Pilotless airliners are NOT happening anytime soon. The public wont accept it. $hit, we just now got the stupid Feds to let use a frickin iPad on the ground. Think pilotless airliners are gonna get certified that fast? Riiiiiiight.