Hello,

I am currently 27 years old and have about 300 hours flying time. I'm Almost done wrapping up my Instrument and Commercial ratings, after which I will then take a low hour pilot job doing whatever I can to get my 1,500. I have a bachelors degree in business, so only thing really between me and the majors is some ratings and flight time. I'm currently in the oil and gas field, but am changing careers because I've found office life is horrible and if I want to make over six figures then I'm looking at my job becoming my life and 60+ hour work weeks. It isn't for me.

I know this is where a lot of pilots will come in and say don't get into aviation for the money, and I am not solely doing it for this reason. That is a factor, but my Dad was a United Captain for years, and my brother is in with United Express now so I fully understand the lifestyle and career paths of pilots, and I do enjoy flying. We own a C-182 I regularly fly.

The reason for this post is I am searching for pilots opinions on the future of aviation, specifically autonomous aircrafts. My fear is that I will be 50 years old (so about 25 years from now) and replaced by autonomous aircrafts, and a pilots skill set isn't easily transferrable over into a new high paying career if this happens. My dad and brother are very dismissive to the idea because, well they don't want it to happen. Even I don't, but I have no doubts about whether this will happen in next 50 years at most, my concern is at what rate and how it will happen. One pilot in the cockpit while one monitors multiple remotely from the ground? Will this happen in 20 years or 40? I know Google and many other car companies plan to have autonomous vehicles on the road by 2025, and if you do the research you'll find that this is probably going to happen. From the rollout of cars and how much safety is improved will have affects on public perceptions of an autonomous aircraft are my thoughts.

So if there is any unbiased pilots who are more integrated into the industry than myself that have knowledge of the subject, please offer your thoughts, because at this point I'm beginning to doubt whether I should continue in to aviation or not. I want to feel as informed as possible before making a decision.

Thanks for any possible input!