Mesabah

Obviously self driving modes will only be available on preset routes where the variables are controllable. This is why if you are a truck driver, you're toast, as all the routes are preset. Also, depending on how well self driving cars operate, the regional airline industry is probably toast as well. If I can get in my car at 9pm, and the car drives me all night to my destination while I sleep, that's the way I'm going, as would most Americans.

80ktsClamp

Parking those monstrosities on deliveries is all part of a set route? Have you seen how that works?

Lordy...

Bigapplepilot

I really hope your right. I don't think most people and governments are ready for the opposite. I'm gonna check out the article.

Bigapplepilot

Good point.

madmax757

And you even just said it yourself in your reply. It pushed buttons and got the machine on the ground.

Also I said CO PILOTS in 5-10 years. Not the AC commander or Captain. I fly an A320 and I recall a recent flight. AP1 on at 100 feet, pushed some buttons , talked on radio, visibility below Cat 1 mins so did an autoland. Taxi to gate. Its just too easy.

Didn't mean to dis anything about the C17 mission. I do realize you fly into hostile areas and do tactical approaches where you get shot at and refuel inflight. But don't you also drone from point A to B quite often also? Couldn't you do most missions with one human pilot and have a robot copilot in 5-10 years?

If you re read the article, it stated the Robot could manipulate the auto flight system and get the airplane on the ground if the Captain becomes incapacitated. That's what they are demonstrating.

Regularguy

DENpilot

Who cares? If the guy can perform, what is the problem? You do realize that for many decades, this is how we flew? Some of us are actual pilots and can fly without having to follow an FD 100% of the time.

NEDude

So if we go to single pilot operations, how do airline pilots experience before they become THE guy in charge? At some point you will either have to use two pilots, or you will have brand new pilots with zero operational experience flying passengers around.

jcountry

The HUGE problem here is what about CRM?

How many times has the other guys caught a small mistake of yours, how often have you caught his or hers-in just one trip. I bet that number is a lot higher than all these automation advocates would ever imagine.

My main issue with any sort of automation of our jobs deals with improvisation. The best "AI" on earth can't figure out a capcha which any 3rd grader can easily solve.

Situations no one has ever anticipated don't happen often. DC10s don't lose all hydraulics every day. Planes don't land in rivers often, or fly through volcanic ash every day. But when they do, humans solve these problems with novel solutions. Programs would not. Those are called "low probability/high consequence" events. I can think of several more which automation would fail at.

I have become even more opposed to the idea of automation since I started flying the Airbus. I have had to jump in and fix stuff way, way more often on the AB than any of the previous generation planes which didn't "just fly themselves."

Don't trust the "experts" on AI. Those are mostly guys who have books to sell, TV appearances, or contracts for software (they know won't work)

I have been learning technology since the first PC came out which could be plugged into a TV. I remember the "paperless office" predictions from the 70s and 80s. I also know that the dumbass FAA has dumped at least 30 or 40 billion into the idiotic idea of replacing ATC with a neural network..... That idea was the next big thing in the early 90s-and we have just as many controllers today. That job should be much easier to automate than ours.

I'm no professional expert on any of this stuff, just a long term observer. I'm telling you that pilotless airliners won't happen for several generations.

tomgoodman

Easy! You only hire someone with a split personality, who can coordinate all decisions with himself.