Civil UAVs: The Future is Coming Fast
 

Noted hippie rag The Economist on the future of civil UAVs:

Pilotless aircraft: This is your ground pilot speaking | The Economist

Well...that will certainly cure that impending pilot shortage thingy.

Interesting. Personally, I only have 21 years remaining . . . . . thank goodness.

Until Boeing and Airbus announce they are developing this technology for future aircraft orders/replacements I think we, as a labor group, are collectively safe.

I think it's coming, though. When the driverless car becomes ubiquitous, people will feel safe in a pilotless (or single-piloted) plane.

This is just one of many reasons why I'm encouraging my kids to not follow in my footsteps. I love my work, but I'm not sure my work will still be there in 50 years.

So they should all become barbers and waiters? I understand your issue and I agree with it, but the reality is that no one knows exactly what the future careers should be. Sadly I was talking to my physician who said he asked his own kids not to go into healthcare and become lawyers instead. The next month I heard roughly the same about becoming a lawyer from a lawyer.

UAVs might save money in the long run, but today's airline CEOs aren't interested in the long run. They know that their job and pay scale depends on keeping shareholders happy and fending off raiders right now. UAVs will cost too much, too soon, and pay off too little, too late.

Standard article about 'Drones' in the latest issue of 'Flying'.
It isn't something that I will have to worry about.
"UAVs coming soon..." has a heathly dose of perspective built into it.
Just what is your (the reader's) definition of "soon"?

USMCFLYR

Bingo! There is too much uncertainty right now. The SR71 made in the late 1960's had technology we didn't see in the airline industry until 20 years later. Some airliners are still flying around without GPS. Some still don't have ACARS. The initial cost will be too much in an industry that runs on razor thin profit margins.

Lets see here, my computer crashes, my cell phone goes down on occasion and my t.v. blanks out for no reason and you want me to think that a pilot less U.A.V. will never do the same thing? All of these events happen to the ordinary every day consumer and once this is pointed out, I don't believe that they will EVER trust a U.A.V.

UAV's = new liability. Insurance companies will dictate the advancement of, implementation, and the costliness of this technology...a long time from now. It will be a hard sell to the insurance man as to why you currently have expert technicians (pilots) on board your 150,000 lb missile, and should now leave them on the ground while 150 passengers and a half dozen FA's go for a ride with lawyers salivating at the chance to sue you out of existence on behalf of their families should anything go wrong. The accident rate in the Mil UAV world shows this technology is a long long way from being even considered for this purpose.

By the way, the technology for the driverless car has existed for 30 years. Popular Science predicted it would be here by now. It ain't here yet. What engineers believe is one thing, implementation is entirely another.