Hey guys, what do you think the chances are that we'll see unmanned airliners one day. What are the chances that Boeing or Airbus creates an airplane that doesn't need a pilot. One that can think on its own and talk to ATC and accept a clearance to takeoff and land.

How far off in the future do you think that might be?

 

I don't think the general public would ever be comfortable flying around in an unmanned roboplane. When it comes to cargo however, I could see this happening at places like UPS.

 

It will happen. People never imagined elevators with out operator. They never imagined trains that ran themselves (think many larger airport people movers). The day will come. When, well that is the 64 dollar question.


Hopefully I'll be dead then.

 

This has been discussed many times before. For a variety of technical, regulatory, social, and cost issues I think a good round number is 100 years at the earliest. It's taking the FAA 20+ years to get ADS-B implemented, and who knows how long for next-gen ATC. Those systems are barely scratching the surface of what would be required for automated airliners.

First you will see military cargo ops in military controlled airspace. eventually you will see domestic fixed-wing cargo ops maybe followed by domestic passenger ops. For international ops, you will need the entire world to re-engineer their airspace, ATC, and regulatory infrastructure...good luck.

Could it be done? Sure, it could be done right now. But somebody (ie the government) would have to spend hundreds of billions to create the infrastructure first because nobody is going to build unmanned airliner that cannot legally be flown...last I heard the feds were a bit short of cash. Also even if the FAA did everything it would need to, boeing could still not afford to build an airliner for US domestic-only operations...too much R&D overhead for way too small of a market. They would need the world on board. It's a chicken or egg problem.

 

I think if you told the general public that they could fly from A-B for $29.99 but it is on an un-piloted aircraft, you would have every seat filled. People are cheap by nature.

Haven't they already flown aircraft takeoff to touchdown with no pilot input? I remember seeing an article on this. There was a pilot onboard just in case but he didn't have any input on the flight.

 

What would happen in the case of a total electrical failure?

How about the 184 passengers who Al Haines and crew saved. What would they have to say?

Miracle on the Hudson? More like a disaster!

I can't see it happening, but single pilot airliners is in our lifetime I believe, unfortunately.

 

Totally autonomous, or piloted like a UAV?

Maybe a "pilot center" located in the middle of nowhere (cheap land) with rated pilots monitoring several flights each with the ability to "hand fly" during an emergency? Dispatchers there could remotely program the flights.

Just random thoughts.

 

If robots were flying the planes, some beancounter would realize that outsourcing the job to low-cost humans would save a bunch of money.

 

I am still waiting on my auto drive car that was promised! Also, that is just controlling a vehicle in 2 dimensions and one that can be pulled over to side of a road at that if something bad happens. It will take much longer transport category aircraft. Just look up the loss rate for UAV's and their operating limitations such as surface wind etc. Sure my current ride a A300 can do a full autoland if the wx and aircraft conditions allow but it does not take much to loose that capability due to a failure or landing winds.

 

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just place transporters in each airport?