.......and history rears its ugly face and repeats again in a very sad, tragic way.

Sad that we were talking about this topic just 2 weeks ago.

Prayers and RIP to the 149 innocent passengers and crew.

 

Do you realize the hoops that airlines have to go through just to get an EFB on board? But, you're absolutely right, we need to make sure the regs don't change.

After the Germanwings crash, I think the talk of single pilot operations will likely die down. Will the flying public accept a single pilot or drone passenger aircraft? Maybe, UNTIL the first accident, until the first ISIS hack into the datalink, until first report of a ground station losing power and CNN reports "no one was controlling the aircraft for 10 minutes!" Does the technology exist? Yes, of course it does. The technology exists to turn the ISIS strongholds into glass, but we don't use it.

 

Datalink loss is a problem; another problem (as illustrated by Iran) is 'hijacking' a drone by sending electronic slgnal inputs to the drone. I guess just another form of datalink loss.

As far as controlling more than one drone at a time, how does the military do it? I'm pretty sure they only control them one at a time. Can - or better yet - will the airlines eventually go to a single controller operating several drone airliners at one time? Likely.

I would expect this to take a few years of small cargo aircraft using pilotless drones before this concept graduates to large cargo ops and then passenger transports. But I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen in my lifetime.

 

The fixes are ridiculous. Lets admit that this accident happened largely because of a fortified door that was impenetrable since 9/11. The door functioned exactly as it was supposed to. The sad part of course being that a trusted pilot was the only one on the locked side.

The point being, whatever design/fix that is implemented to prevent this from happening, 10 years from now, will then be the direct cause of a crash. In these kinds of things the fix(es) you make have the law of unintended consequences. Or unforeseen consequences.

 

True dat. .

 

I agree, because Germanwings.

You can't go single pilot because two psychopaths is unlikely. Although I still think international single pilot would be an easy start for the pro no pilot folks.

You can't go unmanned because imagine a psychopath on the ground that has nothing to lose.

And Iran.

With an Obamabomb.

I think it's dead after this week. Btw, Missy Cummings based her research on 11 pilots AP usage? APs are like cruise control on your car. Just because people use cruise control doesn't mean it's feasible to remove people from driving.

Besides, whatever cost savings are gained will be lost productivity when the wind exceeds auto land limits which ain't much. And Germanwings.

 

EFB cost money. Slow track.

Robot replacement pilots saves money. Fast track.

 

Yeah, OK. Fast track (that has unlimited money).

Here's an analogy. Most people with early-construction homes in Florida won't retrofit them with the latest Miami-Dade code "approved" hurricane impact doors, windows, garage doors, other openings, etc, etc, etc. Why?

Because, even on the most modest home, it could cost at least $30,000 to upgrade all openings to approved hurricane protection. The owner "might" save $500 a year on home owners insurance. So let's see: 60 years to return the investment?! For a hurricane that may arrive? And even the ones in the past that did, the house survived since 1965 without them (they're made of brick and stucco down here).

I'll upgrade the openings when the prices become more reasonable, or buy a newer house where they come built with this new "Miami-Dade" code opening protection. It's just not worth it financially the way it is.

Point is, add a whole bunch of zeros to that. Then install in a wide and varied aged fleet of airliners, to airline BODs which cannot afford, nor the government, the kind of automation and retro fit that is required. We can't even fly point to point yet for crying out loud. How long has that technology been available?

 

I'm glad to have had a career that started in a DC-3 freighter , and has spanned the727,and the Whale in its various iterations, the future generations may look upon all that the way we look at tall ships.

 

Who will call for a "Wind Check"?