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CNN Money Article on Pilotless Planes...

Old 08-14-2017, 05:51 AM
  #11  
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This isn't quite the same as pilotless flights on a day to day basis, but this article from 2006 makes for interesting reading:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...jacked-210869/

Boeing last week received a US patent for a system that, once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a predetermined landing location.
“Once the automatic control system provided by the present invention is initiated, no one on board the air vehicle is capable controlling the flight to the air vehicle, such that it would be useless for anyone to threaten violence in order to gain control the air vehicle.”
Have any of you folks heard about this?

It seems Honeywell has been working on a similar system with Airbus.
https://www.wired.com/2003/08/flying...on-auto-pilot/
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Old 08-14-2017, 07:39 PM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by badflaps View Post
CNN said yesterday that a B1B could fly as high as 30,000 ft. so there is that.
. Can't be true, thats even higher than geese.
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Old 08-15-2017, 06:41 AM
  #13  
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Originally Posted by Awesome Wells View Post
This isn't quite the same as pilotless flights on a day to day basis, but this article from 2006 makes for interesting reading:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...jacked-210869/





Have any of you folks heard about this?

It seems Honeywell has been working on a similar system with Airbus.
https://www.wired.com/2003/08/flying...on-auto-pilot/
Wow, 2006! Never heard of that until now!
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Old 08-15-2017, 08:43 AM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by Awesome Wells View Post
I'm a bit late to the party on this thread.

The public will go wherever the cheapest flights are. They'll soon forget about the lack of pilots up front if it saves them a few dollars.

Of course the irony of the CNN article is that pilotless aircraft won't be cheaper. Why are Airbus and Boeing still using a lot of 60s and 70s technology on their aircraft? The answer is that it is prohibitively expensive to get the new technology through the regulators approval processes.

Then there is the issue of liability. Pilotless aircraft are every ambulance chasing lawyer's wet dream. Us pilots are quite handy scapegoats when an aircraft goes down in the ocean, but what if the aircraft is pilotless? Who takes the wrap then? The media and lawyers want a scalp when there is an air crash, so they'll come after airline management or the aircraft manufacturer management.

I think what we are more likely to see is much greater levels of automation, overseen by pilots on ever decreasing wages, and receiving less and less training.
That all sounds great, until people start crashing and dying in airplanes- and believe me that will happen if you start to remove the pilot from the plane. Will to survive > will to make money
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Old 08-15-2017, 04:36 PM
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What if the "system" controlling them goes down?

What if it is hacked?

What if there is some sort of EP that isn't cut and dry, that a person needs to decide?

Just some of the things I'd wonder about
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Old 08-16-2017, 08:23 PM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Subieguy14 View Post
What happens if something goes wrong the computer cant fix and the plane ends up in a neighborhood instead of a grass field 2 miles the other way?
Answer: people will die

What happens when a pilot can't fix the plane and it ends up in a neighborhood instead of a grass field 2 miles away

Answer: people will die

What happens when automated airplanes have 90% fewer accidents than manned airplanes.

Answer: They will dominate the industry.
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