Originally Posted by
Hacker15e
And, of course, the satellite time and bandwidth to operate these things transocean is just going to be so much cheaper than paying pilots.
I expect that satellite time and bandwidth will be an order of magnitude less expensive than pilots. Please correct my very rough math: ~5000 pilots at $200,000k/yr is $1B. This does not include healthcare, or travel costs, or lost cargo space, and likely several other costs.
SpaceX launches rockets to space, which then deploy several satellites, and steer themselves to land vertically on a barge floating in the ocean. I don't in the least doubt that someone, whether it be Boeing, Airbus, or a startup, will produce autonomous aircraft within the next 10 years.
I don't have to like the idea of non-piloted airplanes, but it seems to me best to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.