AYLflyer

It took the feds YEARS just to certify an ipad, and more years to ditch all paper. You think that anything less than perfect to carry the general public around in the sky is going to happen in our lifetimes?

First you need to prove that these things will actually work. Then you need to prove they'll work in our airspace system with other manned aircraft. Then you need to prove beyond a shadow of any doubt that there are enough fail safes to not kill hundreds of people at a time in a crash. Then you need to sell the actual things to airlines.

Finally, you have 50,000+ ALPA and other union pilots who would be facing job losses. No way that they're gonna sit idly by allowing it to happen. Between the red tape and the political side of it, I'm pretty confident that I won't see an automated airliner carrying people in the US in my career (30ish years).

AllYourBaseAreB

AI in a controlled environment works better than any human ever could. Lucky for us we don’t operate in such an environment. This technology will just another tool for pilots to use, not replace us.

Of course this will also be used a crutch for some yahoo operators, or mandatory SOP for some real dumb ones. But even then there will be pilots on board.

TheFly

yeah, but how many pilots on board? Asking for all the former flight engineers out there.

rickair7777

The "Public" won't realize anything. They are inherently sympathetic to humans and human error.

Plaintiff's attorneys (and opportunistic pols) will play up the evil corporation and corrupt regulator angles to reap billions from automation accidents. Pilots, ATC, airlines will share none of the blame, it will be laid 100% at the feet of the manufacturers.

"Safer" isn't safe enough. It has to be a lot safer. And somehow that has to be proven.

Even then, good luck with certification. Government bureaucrats don't get paid to take chances to enhance corporate profits. And even then, some politicians would drum up a wave of public hysteria just for the media attention.

And MCAS probably set autonomous aircraft back by 20 years.

C17B74

Totally agree, MAX debacle sets everything back as well as the 797 and COVID19 didn’t accelerate anything but empty seats. 797 had a 1 seat future variant to start chipping away the human form. No doubt it will happen, I just need to be retired when that does. 15-20 yrs left = probably safe. Those with more will be quite lonely prior to eventual dismissal or ground duty if it were to happen. Never discount possibilities - remember your dial phone. If someone successfully comes up with a molecular transporter we’re all through. “The Fly” had some growing pains so there’s that. Wouldn’t worry now, Cargo will be your first guinea pig anyways so there will be an actual heads up most likely. Besides, prior to execution COVID27 will rear it’s head.

firefighterplt

Lonely? The single seat fighter guys will be in their glory!

As mentioned, I don’t think it’s a technical issue. Liability will be a big part of it. That, and once one inevitably glitches and plummets to the earth, passengers will avoid it even more than they avoided the MAX.

C17B74

True, domestically speaking as they are used to short legs and for the most part being busy. Being international that’s when the boredom, etc will set in. Granted lots of Netflix, Books, etc. Just did 5 legs this past week and 3 of them were 8, 9, and 10+ hour legs. I would miss the banter. Fun with good crews, a bad crew - rather be alone so there’s that if I ran into one, speaking cargo of course and not 10-20 crew members so the odds are against you...

PurpleToolBox

A pilot will always be there. It is even written in the article in the last paragraph. This is just another level of automation.

Once we can be assured that our NAS system isn't susceptible to Sensor Attacks, Actuator Attacks, Insider Sabotage or C3 Attacks, then our airplanes will have no pilots. But that is a long time from now.

crewdawg

And we've still managed to crash lots of them.

Single seat guy here...having another pilot up there to BS with is one of the things I love about this job. That and being able to stand up, stretch and pee comfortably.

AirBear

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-n...r4IvrLs88kHstQ

Former F-18 Pilot and NASA Administrator says uncrewed aircraft will be safer than crewed. Right. I will say there will be no "gray" area with uncrewed as there is with crewed. No fudging wind limits, approach mins, etc. It'll be black and white. And probably some red when the computers encounter something they're not programmed for