What the hell?

[KeroseneSnorter]

Most of us don't..

When was the last time you flew an entire 8 leg day on nothing but your fingertips?

?????8 leg day??? What the heck is that??? Did a brutal one legger last day out...12.3 hours, Involved a take off, a few positions reports, a nice 5 hour nap in the rack, an approach brief and a landing........uh there was a meal in there somewhere too. Crap I really liked that job...furloughs $uck.....and mgmt.....and whoever else I can think of!!!!

8 legs huh? Yes yes...now it is starting to come back to me..a ratty 737 that smelled like feet and an ancient F/A...that smelled like feet........Aww man, going back to pax hauling going to bite!:angryfire

 

[handlesaregay]

So far our discussion of UAV's flying across the globe with hundreds of passengers has been compared to: military drones, an assembly line robot, an airport tram, Russian spacecraft, and H.A.L. from the movie 2001.

Let me put it this way, by the time they have the technology to make passenger UAV's a viable concept they will have already perfected the flying car making airline travel obsolete.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

So far our discussion of UAV's flying across the globe with hundreds of passengers has been compared to: military drones, an assembly line robot, an airport tram, Russian spacecraft, and H.A.L. from the movie 2001.

Let me put it this way, by the time they have the technology to make passenger UAV's a viable concept they will have already perfected the flying car making airline travel obsolete.

Good point. They already have a working concept car that drives it's self on a highway with a tracking strip embedded in the concrete. The car uses sensors to "see" the cars in front and behind and brakes or accelerates as needed. Not practical at this time since a complete refit of the highway system would be needed, but it has been proven feasible.

Have a friend in the electronics field. To quote him, "If you can think of it now, it can be built given enough money and a little time." The latest asteroid hunting probe(do not remember the name) in space right now has the ability to self correct and modify it's course with no ground based help to reach it's target. This includes autonomous corrections for unknown objects and unanticipated target movement. It "sees" the target with it's cameras and figures out the best course of action to perform the mission.

The early learning robots are already here, right now they resemble bugs and only work on a basic insect like level, but they do learn for themselves free of human programming and interact with others of their kind. The guy developing them uses the hive mind analogy to describe their interaction. M.I.T. type if I remember correctly, he has a web site that is tracking the development.

 

[NuGuy]

Guess it depends how old you are. My Great Grandmother was born into a world with Horse and buggy transportation. In her life time she saw the advent of the automobile, the airplane, the A-Bomb, the jet engine, the helicopter, the first man to walk on the moon, Skylab, Mir, the first Mars lander, ATM's, cell phones, and the home computer. When she was 98 she told me that when she was a little girl she couldn't even imagine such things.

I doubt we can even imagine what will be everyday items for our great grandkids!

Actually, we'll probably be back in the horse and buggy if the "peak oil" nitwits are correct. Not to mention sweating our a$$ off on the hilltops if the global warming loonies are also correct.

Nu

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Actually, we'll probably be back in the horse and buggy if the "peak oil" nitwits are correct. Not to mention sweating our a$$ off on the hilltops if the global warming loonies are also correct.

Nu

Ahhh, but there is the weird part.....global warming actually has the capacity to cause the next ice age....Fry for a couple of years then freeze for the next 500.....Mother Nature can be a real sweetie huh?

At least the skiers will be happy!

 

[JimNtexas]

Lockheed is offering a "pilot optional" version of the F-35 to the Air Force:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501288.html

 

[handlesaregay]

I hijacked this from another post because it's oh so appropriate here. Set your mood controls to 19.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/09/airportofthefuture.html

 

[propsarebest]

I hijacked this from another post because it's oh so appropriate here. Set your mood controls to 19.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/09/airportofthefuture.html

That was BITCHIN!

mood control set to 19...

 

[91100 100 set]

I hijacked this from another post because it's oh so appropriate here. Set your mood controls to 19.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/09/airportofthefuture.html

"How do you like your quasi-futuristic uniforms Mr Powers? I designed them myself..."

 

[sbav8r]

Good stuff

 

[Gorilla]

The biggest problem I see with remote pax transports is the integrity of the data link. I think it goes without saying that there must be a continuous data stream, and override capability, between a dude in a control center, and the jet with 300 souls on board.

Sounds simple, but it's not. The only technology that we have today, and for the forseeable future, is radio, either atmospheric or satellite. And radio - let's just say we all know it isn't 100%. Think of bandwidth, too. Thousands of jets flying, terabytes of info streaming, and it all must be 100% accurate and error corrected.

It must also be totally secure. "Hijacking by proxy" isn't so far fetched.

Proponents of unmanned transports, please stop comparing what is ultimately a simple military drone with a far more dynamic and demanding passenger system. They're not even close.

We won't see it in our lifetimes, both for technological and for psychological issues. All it would take would be ONE accident where the board concludes "...the presence of a human pilot on board could have saved this aircraft." It'd be all over for unmanned pax jets.

 

[JimG]

Let me put it this way, by the time they have the technology to make passenger UAV's a viable concept they will have already perfected the flying car making airline travel obsolete.

I don't know about you guys, but the thought of having that many idiots off of the freeway and into the air just scares the hell out of me.