Originally Posted by
esa17
Literally nothing in your post is accurate.
The aircraft can easily avoid TA/RAs with the new ADS-B mandate. Currently unmanned aircraft have the ability electronically “sense and sequence” themselves timing arrivals to the second.
Also, landing in 30 knot winds means nothing to the airplane. Only the pilot knows it’s windy. Unmanned aircraft can land within 1.5m of a predetermined point every single time, regardless of weather conditions.
The Siri-Alexa example is a non-starter. It won’t be AI, the aircraft will only do what it’s told...just like when Otto flies now.
As far as the telemetry is concerned, private space flight cures that. Once Elon starts launching cheap micro-communication satellites bandwidth becomes cheap and coverage is complete.
We are about to be England in 1851. The new Crystal Palace is going to cause a major paradigm shift.
I'm referring only to the example of in the video above. I have no doubt that in the next 20 years, there would be the potential for fully automated airplanes. But they cannot exist in the current environment. It would take a momentous shift in the entire aviation infrastructure and that takes time....and A LOT of money. There are still airlines that operate on 1970s IT systems flying aircraft built in the 90s.
Right now and in the near to mid term future, the infrastructure is not there to support it. It is going to take several decades of testing and technology improvements before we ever see one enter service. Yes, a robot can program an autopilot to land a 737. Good for the programmers. Many, many airports have inadequate approach procedures. They would need to be developed and built to suit the new aircraft. And then there is the capital needed to replace every aircraft currently flying. That 737 that the robot landed has very limited Autoland capabilities. Toss in some windshear and a snow covered runway and things get really interesting. And remember, robots can't see weather beyond what the radar tells them...which is still a limited resource in a lot of cases. The only thing that would have saved the Air France flight in the Atlantic was better training. The Autopilot is of no help when all the sensors fail...