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Old 01-26-2018, 05:57 PM
  #3  
2StgTurbine
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GM and Ford didn't develop a driverless car; TESLA did. Similarly, Boeing won't create a pilotless plane (maybe Airbus), but it will likely be a brand new company (that could be bought by a major aircraft manufacturer).

First, that small company will produce a working pilotless plane. That plane will then spend 5-10 years proving that it is safe. Then, someone must build a large part 25 certified pilotless plane. Once some airline buys it, they will have to operate it with 2 pilots for about 10 years before they even think about changing regulations to let it be flown with 1 pilot.

That is about 20 years AFTER someone creates a pilotless plane. Within that time, it is more likely that the economy will crash causing airlines to go bankrupt which will cause the pay rates to be slashed which will make pilots cheaper than R&D.

And as others have said, the major manufacturers will want to extract as much money as they can out of their "legacy" 2 pilot airframes before they really push for a single pilot/no pilot plane. That means they will send tons of money to politicians to scare the public away from a single/no pilot plane until their 2 pilot cash cow airplanes are no longer worth it.

In short, no pilot alive today has to worry about it.
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