Italian Jet Company Converts Passenger Plane Into the World's Most Stylish UAV

I can't believe they turned the beautiful P.180 II into a UAV!
OH THE HUMANITY OF IT ALL!

 

Pretty soon they will recall all SR71 and A12 aircraft for conversion to supersonic executive passenger aircraft. Everyone - invest in "airborne tanker" aircraft production companies.

 

Company solution...no pilots at all...

Piaggio Reveals Unmanned Avanti

 

Good thing these drones never crash. 3. Drone Crash Database « Drone Wars UK

 

It's a UAV based on a pax aircraft, not an unmanned pax aircraft.

 

Just wait until that UAV hauling cargo crashes on final in MEM or SDF. A former squid is heading a military UAV cargo project. I saw here on a late night show; she expects airliners to eventually be UAVs. Pax River Could Benefit from Cargo UAV Boom : The Lexington Park Leader

 

[QUOTE]It's a UAV based on a pax aircraft, not an unmanned pax aircraft.[/QUOTE

I know. I've got about a thousand hours in the manned version, and it's not much of a stretch to go to the next step of automating the pilot function.

A bigger question will be the noise issue; the Piaggio Avanti makes an unusuall, distinctive, annoying sound, and is not particularly stealthy. While a number of UAS out there sound more like flying chain saws than a hollywood-quiet winged wonder, the Piaggio has the huey-like quality of advertising it's existence to people in surrounding provinces, let alone in the area directly beneath the aircraft (even at idle). Idle vertical profiles, useful with certain other platforms, may not be nearly as effective here. There's a lot of noise ISR out there (I've flown some of it), but the Piaggio's chief virtues are it's large cabin, low passenger noise (much quieter in than out), and ability to go high (FL410) and fast for a turboprop. None of those are germane to the majority of ISR work.

 

She's well known in navy circles...seems to have a huge axe to grind, hates pilot culture and pilots. Just cuz she wants to put us all out of a job doesn't mean its economically practical right now.

 

That's good to know that she's a known commodity.
She talked like UAVs are a bulletproof solution, ignoring WELL KNOWN vulnerabilities. And I'm not just talking about the high percentage of UAVs that crash.
Drone hijacked by hackers from Texas college with $1,000 spoofer | Naked Security

 

They can do all they want technology-wise, but should be used ONLY in war zones. Someone ONBOARD must be legally responsible.