How long until pilots replaced with UAVs??

[Billy Madison]

I figure it will happen in the cargo industry before the passenger airlines. Considering aviation is only a slightly over 100 years old and looking at how much its changed, I don't think its too far fetched to think it could happen in my lifetime. Thoughts?

Billy

 

[MalteseX]

I figure it will happen in the cargo industry before the passenger airlines. Considering aviation is only a slightly over 100 years old and looking at how much its changed, I don't think its too far fetched to think it could happen in my lifetime. Thoughts?

Billy

It may happen, but it's not that likely anytime soon. I mean we don't have unmanned trains or unmanned ships yet. Seems like both would be easier to build and less likely to crash.

It will never happen in the passenger airlines. No passenger will be willing to fly with no pilot.

 

[shooter]

It may happen, but it's not that likely anytime soon. I mean we don't have unmanned trains or unmanned ships yet. Seems like both would be easier to build and less likely to crash.

It will never happen in the passenger airlines. No passenger will be willing to fly with no pilot.

oh oh...........

Beijing to run 1st unmanned metro train
Winny Wang
2006-08-07
BEIJING residents will ride unmanned metro trains from the Capital Airport to Dongzhimen in the downtown area, the first of its kind in China, Xinhua news agency reported today.

Alstom China will offer automatic control systems for the trains, which will be put into use before the 2008 Olympic Games.

Four stations will be set up along the 28-kilometer-long railway, including Dongzhimen Station and Sanyuanqiao Station in the downtown area. Safety shields will also be installed at each station to protect the safety of passengers.

The speed of the trains can reach 110 kilometers per hour, much faster than the current highest speed of 80 kilometers per hour in the country.

Each car of the trains will be equipped with monitors to instantly grasp changing conditions.

The system, based on wireless communication technology, can deliver signals stably, which can shorten the interval of trains and raise their running efficiency.

we went from airport terminal trains to this 18 mile stretch.... is it true Japan has an unmanned high speed train?


I agree with MX,
I do not see unmanned flight operations being around in the civilian sector in my lifetime. People would not fly on them. Cargo however could be possible if the military uses it with 100% success over many many many years.
The fly-by-wire is more realistic. Like the pilots on the stealth, they are only there to monitor.

 

[Tonala2k]

Maybe more single pilot ops as shooter points out using fly-by-wire. Currently it's all about price and stigma. No one minds that their pilots are being paid very little and have very little experience. They don't even stop to think about it because it appears safe and it is cheap. Once PX airliners start qualifying for single pilot ops then they'll just keep the FO around as a flight attendant and pay him/her peanuts. Ticket prices will be low and no one will really know the difference until they are dead.

 

[retired guy]

Boys, it might work if the pilotless plane was the only plane in the sky. On a typical flight from, say, ATL to SFO, you can`t go for ten minutes without a heading change, speed up, slow down, can you climb it faster, ok deviate around that wx, etc. etc.. While it is true that someone could sit in a dark little room somewhere and control the flight, what`s the advantage? If you must monitor,and input changes, why not just be there? By the time all the bugs are worked out of this one, we will be out of oil anyway.

 

[FearlessFreep]

The ultra strong, resilient and united pilot's unions will all keep this from happening!

Just joking - couldn't resist!

 

[Huck]

I just flew with the MD-10 captain that shucked the #3 engine last April over Arkansas.

Lost #3 Hyds, lost slats, only partial flaps, shrapnel holes leaking fuel all over the wing, the right main uplock failed and that gear dropped, had to manually extend the other two and come around for a flaps 22 no slat landing on questionable tires (all sensors on right side gone). Vibration from the engine was so bad they were pulling against their lap belts.

See - him bringing that plane back was worth his whole salary, over his entire career, to the company. Some gamer in a cockpit mockup somewhere would have probably augured it in - first thing to get knocked out would be telemetry.....

 

[highalti2d]

I recall reading about a pilot, back when all airlines had FEs, saying that they would never be able to fly such a big plane without a FE. Look where we are now. Not saying it will happen, just not saying that it WON'T ever happen.

 

[GCD]

Listen boys and girls,

It's all about "public perception", not about technical factuality.

How many times have you been to a gathering or talking to your neighbor and they refer to the"computer" flying the airplane for you? "So, Bill, you guys just get it to the runway and the computer does the rest of it until you get off of the other runway, right?" How many times have you heard that one? Some of you guys don't help this perception by telling your passengers, "The computer says we will arrive on time in...". You support the "computer" theory whenever you refer to the "computer" in your PA's.

The public has the perception that there is only a need for one pilot, now, and we as a group are doing nothing to curb that opinion. All the public sees is what they are told by the talking heads on TV, that the greedy pilots are starving the airlines with their unrealistic salary demands. How many times have you read in USA Today that the average airline pilot pay is $130K+? It's simply a campaign to spread jealousy of pilot's salaries, and the article always appears whenever some regional airline pilot group is in contract negotiations.

Why doesn't ALPA have an advertising or education campaign? Well, they do, but the only place I have ever seen a commercial on TV is when I was doing an overnight in the DC area. There are other complicated reasons why ALPA doesn't care to spend the money to educate the public, but that's for another subject.

Again, it's all about public perception, and if the public will allow UAV's to fly over their houses at night.

 

[AerroMatt]

Check Thread: End of the Air Freight Business

OK, here is what I posted a few weeks ago on this subject:

Automated Freighters = Lawyers Wet Dream!
Just wait til one of these birds goes down in a residential neighborhood due to mechanical failure that the computers weren't programmed to handle (or any other unforseen complication!) and kill a few hundred to a few thousand people in their sleep. The trial lawyers will be on the freight company and the military like flies on $hit. Then you will see the newspapers gang up and say "Why was anyone stupid enough to think we could do without pilots?"

I for one would much rather place my trust in some hung-over (add your favorite airline name here) flight crew that snuck past the TSA breath sniffers to a computer program written by a long-haired, wet behind the ears kid fresh out of some tech school who's knowledge of aviation in all its intricacy came out of a few courses taught in his sophmore year. uke: