Pilatus801

Looking for current career pilots to chime in on this subject. Obviously, technology has seen major advancements in automation in the last 10 years. There are driver-less vehicles on our roadways already and there is a push for more. There is a push for commercial trucking to move to driver-less vehicles. Naturally, this technology progression will move into aviation at some point.

What are your opinions on this matter? Are pilots to be pushed out of the cockpits in the next few decades because they will be replaced by pilot-less planes? Will the general public warm up to the idea of pilot-less planes? Does this mean our days as pilots is somewhat limited? When will this happen? 10 years, 15 years, 20 years?

Maybe if not pilot-less planes, perhaps planes that eliminate co-pilots and only have one captain to oversee and manage the technology.

Thanks for your comments.

CrimsonEclipse

I expect this thread to be calm and balanced....

There are two types that will reply to this thread:
1. The ones who think that horseless carriages are just a fad
2. The know-it-all tech nerd that expects it to happen tomorrow.

Lockheed, Boeing, DARPA, and Dassault are actively working on single pilot systems for large and high performance aircraft. Many solutions are designed to bolt onto existing airframes.

Timeframe?

Very difficult to say. Assume 10 years for now.

Some say passenger will refuse to fly on single pilot airplanes.
Yet people willing fly on Spirit to save $5.

Then there's the philosophy:
Single pilot airplane: Is it an unmanned airplane with an biological backup? Or is it an 1 crew airplane with an intelligent autopilot?

Unmanned? probably for cargo.
The navy has drones that respond to hand signals, that may be a step on ground handling.

Datalink communications available to the airlines is also a step to partial or full automation.

The progress of AI is pretty impressive and moving at leaps and bounds.

I'm curious what Amazon and Fedex have in mind. If anyone has a plan, they do.

PerfInit

Threat of Hacking and “lost link” (flight termination) procedures will keep me FAR AWAY from that....

rickair7777

No worries, they'll just install remote-control explosive bolts on the wing-boxes to prevent automated airliners from being used as WMDs.