Pilotless commercial air travel

[tlax25]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=1&u=/ap/20040226/ap_on_hi_te/asian_aerospace

I sincerely hope this never happens. I may only be a passenger on commercial flights (I fly for fun, not for a living), I would feel much, much safer with a human up front that has ultimate control of the plane. No pilots? I'd never fly a plane without a human at the controls in the front.

Do any of you folks flying the line think this will ever be put into practice in our lifetimes?

 

[chawbein]

No.

The reason that the AF has UAV's (besides some cost issues) is to do high-risk flying without endangering personnel. The AF is wanting to reduce risk and increase capabilities by making unmanned fighter planes.

Commercial aviation does not do the same high-risk type of flying as the military, hence no need for a pilotless aircraft. I don't see it ever happening as people are inherrintly afraid of flying and don't want to turn their lives over to a computer, even a very smart one.

 

[nosehair]

Let George do it.

Yep, it's coming! Maybe not in my lifetime, but I wouldn't be surprised. Almost definitely in the coming lifetime of a new upstart pilot today.
Back in my day, it was incomprehensible that the sky would be so full of pilots flyin' around totally dependent on radar and gps to "tell them where to go", and other hi-tech gadgets which make today's flying way much more dependent on technical wizardry than on human ingenuity... it will come.

 

[slide33]

Ever see the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"?

Scary stuff.

 

[wil]

What will the Guat do?

 

[TEXAN AVIATOR]

Do any of you folks flying the line think this will ever be put into practice in our lifetimes?

God I hope not.

 

[urflyingme?!]

UAV's still have someone on the ground with a stick and a rudder.....

PS I have a better idea. How about a managementless corporation!

 

[ThomasR]

tlax25 Pilotless

tlax25,

Pilots only spend about 2% of a flight at the controls now. Everything else is auto and fly by wire inputs. Passengers are not aware of cockpit management. Stewardess access to cockpit is also restricted after 9-11. The Japanese have a bullet train that carries ten times the number of passenger than an airliner at 500 mph with almost zero turn around time.

 

[Dash8]

What will the Guat do?

hey, that's catchy, we should make knickknacks with that on it, like braclets and the like

WWTGD

we could use the proceeds to make a site dedicated to the guat, tabexpress fo, ce172cap skull1, and all the rest

 

[Dash8]

Re: tlax25 Pilotless

tlax25,

Pilots only spend about 2% of a flight at the controls now. Everything else is auto and fly by wire inputs. Passengers are not aware of cockpit management. Stewardess access to cockpit is also restricted after 9-11. The Japanese have a bullet train that carries ten times the number of passenger than an airliner at 500 mph with almost zero turn around time.

not to mention the maglevs!

 

[tlax25]

ThomasR,

I understand a lot has been automated in modern commercial aircraft, even with my 230 hours of experience. I would just have rather have a person at the controls when that 1 in a million problem occurs that has not been programmed into a computer - Sioux City is an example I can think.

 

[GogglesPisano]

After 9-11 didn't W suggest the ability to remotely-land airplanes would be a good idea to explore?

 

[Ralgha]

It's not too hard to program emergency management into a computer for controlling a fully automated train. If something goes wrong, STOP. If the computer goes offline, the engine stops, the brakes apply. Quite simple.

Now, tell me how you're going to program a computer to deal with an emergency in an airplane. How about when the computer fails?

 

[Swass]

Dude, Windows never crashes. Are you kidding?

 

[slide33]

Bullet trains make sense in Japan. The country is smaller than California, and more than 2/3 of it is mountainous. Not a whole lot of area to cover.

Not the same thing here in the U.S.

 

[XGmaninGA]

Pilotless Commercial aircraft will never happen for the simple reason that the FAA cannot pursue an enforcement action against a computer.

 

[dsee8driver]

Re: tlax25 Pilotless

tlax25,

Pilots only spend about 2% of a flight at the controls now.

This is not a true statement. I have never flown for a major or an airliner newer then a DC8 but I have to tell you I spend quite a bit more then 2% at the controls. Specially in Bad weather and minimun approaches. Our FD are so unreliable most of the time we have to fly the approach to mins. I have crossed the pond without george twice (before we were rvsm certified).

As a passenger I would rather know there is someone upfront ready to take over in case anything goes wrong. I personally can't see pilotless cockpits anywhere in the future, no matter how sophisticated computers get.

Everything else is auto and fly by wire inputs. Passengers are not aware of cockpit management. Stewardess access to cockpit is also restricted after 9-11. The Japanese have a bullet train that carries ten times the number of passenger than an airliner at 500 mph with almost zero turn around time.

We can't even get a train to go from South Florida to Orlando, the tourist capital of the country what makes you think we can get it anywhere in the states.

 

[C150Commuter]

Pilotless, perhaps not....mainly for the passenger confidence. It is not, however, inconcievable to imagine single pilot operations within our lifetimes. 30 years ago there were three pilots in the cockpit.

 

[Kikuchiyo]

The USAF Scientific Advisory Board published a paper on the future of UAVs. They laid out a timeline of when they expected certain missions to convert to UAVs. Tactical Recon was obviously the first with the Predator and Global Hawk already on line. Next was to be SEAD (Suppresion of Enemy Air Defenses - knocking out SAM sites) then air-to-air combat. Air refuleing tankers were surprisingly early in the timeline. Cargo and passenger airlift was near the end. I can't remember the rest or the year estimates or where I found the paper, sorry.

 

[Tripower455]

Never happen. You need a brain to reboot the thing when it locks up......

Besides, who will star in the "Greatest Security Show on Earth" if there are no flight crews for the tsA to harass in full view of the pax?

 

[Dragonbravo]

It will come down to this: A pilot and a dog. The pilot is there in case something goes wrong. The dog is there to bite the pilot in case the pilot tries to touch anything.