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Quote:

Originally Posted by rickair7777 (Post 233912)

This legislation is not refering to pax airliners...it is refering to commercial UAV's which perform surviellance, photography, or possibly serve as airborne telecommunications nodes.

It will take ten years to implement this thing.

After 20 years of trouble-free operations (not a sure thing by any means), they MIGHT start thinking about unmanned cargo planes. Maybe.

But the real kicker here is class B airspace...they might be willing to sacrifice a few private pilots in E or G airspace to midairs, but the first UAV that knocks down an airliner in a class B is going to set their whole program back another 20 years. For that reason, they will be very reluctant and slow to try UAV's at major commercial airports. If they don't have experience with little UAV's in class B, they won't be able to try the BIG UAV's.

Also I doubt any existing airliner (pax or cargo) could be certified as a UAV. They will need a clean-slate design for that (another ten years).

I'm not too worried. However...If you're ten years old cargo might not be the brightest move for you.

QFT (Quoted For Truth)

I have some experience with UAVs and I can tell you that UAV "pilots" make some big bucks. That won't change anytime soon and you're not likely to see an airline choose an expensive guy on the ground over an expensive guy in the air.
UAVs have their place, but hauling people or even cargo through the national airspace system is not one of them. Between the safety concerns, airspace issues, lacking technology, and incredible logistics requirements, I'd be very surprised to ever see UAVs fill a role like we're all concerned about. Any attempt to do so would fall into the category of cool science project, but in the end the benefits will not outweigh the costs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Murphy (Post 233574)

The smartest thing ALPA and the IPA could do, is pool together all of their money, figure out who is flying the first UAV, and pay them off to fly it into the side of a mountain.

One of the better ideas I've heard recently... :D

-Ben

Quote:

Originally Posted by HercDriver130 (Post 233561)

Yea sure...yep.. name me one piece of transportation that is widely used and has no operator....... I see people lining up to fly on un manned aircraft.... maybe in 50 years.... lol

Elevators. Used to be a guy in there wearing a funny suit to press the buttons to get back and forth. Sometimes with people on it, sometimes not. Probably also had to listen to people complain about how bumpy/jerky/slow/smelly/loud the thing was. He also probably had to worry about some other operator doing his job for a cheaper wage and worse working conditions all for the glory of wearing the uniform and to have people look up to him as he had 100's of lives in his hands on any given day.

Disclaimer; The above statement is intended as a joke ONLY, and is not endorsed nor sponsored by the person that wrote it. The disclaimer is to keep those that take everything written on here SO SERIOUSLY at bay.

I'm kidding, I don't REALLY compare out job to that of one from a looooong time ago. I've just heard it used before.

i read an article on the cost of an unmanned airliner. it was over $600mill, so, for the foreseable future is cheaper to pay pilots .

Quote:

Originally Posted by greedyairlineexec (Post 234475)

i read an article on the cost of an unmanned airliner. it was over $600mill, so, for the foreseable future is cheaper to pay pilots .

Especially at today's pay rates.

What are the requirements to operate a UAV? Does the FAA require a commercial/instrument rating? If so all of us are qualified to make the transition :D

CM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canyonman (Post 234570)

What are the requirements to operate a UAV? Does the FAA require a commercial/instrument rating? If so all of us are qualified to make the transition :D

CM

What a great idea! Maybe I can operate a UAV from home while wearing my PJ's. But would I still have to wear the stupid hat?

As far as I know, trains still don't zip around without a conductor on them, and they are on tracks. So I think pilots should be safe.

Trains have conductors and engineers on them - including the ones with only freight stuff and no pax. My uncle is a conductor for a railroad and never works on pax carrying trains, only ones with coal and that sort of stuff.