Pilotless Airliners (what do you think?)

Tangodelta29

Tangodelta29

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,

Lately for no real reason I became a little hooked on discussions over whether or not airliners and commercial aviation in general is heading toward no pilots. The speculation is that in our future the control of these huge planes will go to all computers (for countless supposed reasons). I for one HATE to think about this possibility.:( This is mainly because I am only 18 and have hopes of becoming an airline pilot. (figures).

I was wondering what you guys thought of this topic. There is an interesting blog at the link below that covers almost everything I could ever think of, but its not very conclusive. Some say it could be as soon as 2030 :( Will this type of thing happen? If so when, how soon or how long will it take? Or is this type of aviation not likely at all?

Just wondering what you guys thought, any input is appreciated! Thanks!

http://www.longbets.org/4
 
It's not going to happen. People don't even want to get on trains that don't have people up front "driving" (with the exception of some very limited range stuff like at airports).

It might happen someday with cargo, but even that will be far down the road... Most of the freighters are second hand airliners after all!
 
I think it's going to be a LONG time before the general public ever get on an aircraft without a person up front.

I think all of us have nice long careers ahead of us before we start getting pushed out by computers.
 
Ask the people who where onboard usair 1549 what they think about having a pilot up front. Sure a plane can be flown point a to b by auto pilot, but the computer cannot look outside and figure out where to land in an emergency!
 
Not happening anytime soon. I doubt a computer would have the presence of mind to ditch in the Hudson when the stuff hits the fan.
 
I think you will see more and more UAV's. And as technology advances, the day may come when automation may lead to removal of a pilot from the cockpit (i.e single pilot operations). And in the distant future, it may be that pilots will be out of the cockpit entirely. But there will still be pilots. They may be ground based, but there still will be pilots.

Take heart. The career you retire from, in all likelihood, hasn't been invented yet.
 
I would love to see a computer land on a poor braking runway or taxi on a nil braking ramp.

Or maybe they could actually control it better.

I know I personally would be very worried about sitting in the back of a plane with no humans up front.
 
kiloalpha said:
We should be able to have better interfaces soon, rather than a yoke... like mind control!
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The Soviets had that back in 1982

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Oh, if only I could go back to 82, coach would have put me in, we would have won state........
 
v1valarob said:
I would love to see a computer land on a poor braking runway or taxi on a nil braking ramp.

Or maybe they could actually control it better.

I know I personally would be very worried about sitting in the back of a plane with no humans up front.
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Actually, those are one of the situations that computers would do much better at. In fact, they already do (anti-skid).
 
When I was a young kid...like 15 years ago or so..I knew that I wanted to be a pilot..and a lot of people told me that I probably wouldn't even have a chance because aircraft would be all computerized and everything by the time I got through school and everything. Really today, we aren't even that much closer to becoming fully computerized...I don't know about you guys..but with my experiences from computers, I don't want one to fly!!! I have a problem with them freezing..and taking fooooorrrreeeeevvveeeerrrrr:laff:

I don't see aviation ever being fully computerized...they need atleast one pilot sitting up front to monitor.
 
Pilotless Airliners (what do you think?)
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I think that this horse has been beaten to death on this website and other aviation websites. Doing a search for this topic may surprise you.

My opinion....you really don't want to fly on a pilotless airplane anytime soon. The term.."Blue screen" comes to mind.
 
If we put AI in an airplane whats preventing it from being "persuaded" or taken over and flown into the ground or attacking a target? Don't tell me a firewall, cause we all know how thats going in 24. I honestly don't think computers will ever fly anything with passengers and perphaps anything bigger than a small Cessna for cargo.

It's funny though, cause on a Cirrus, you have advanced avionics, advanced airframe, advanced safety devices, yet the engine is still 1930s. PatrickCPS brought that to my attention, although it's a little off topic.
 
I think the airline industry as we know it will largely vanish before that ever happens as there are much more efficient means of mass transit that may come to replace much air travel. I think automation is the last thing that professional and aspiring pilots have to worry about. We're far more likely to be jobless in the future because of bullet trains rather than automation...
 
scramjet said:
I think the airline industry as we know it will largely vanish before that ever happens as there are much more efficient means of mass transit that may come to replace much air travel. I think automation is the last thing that professional and aspiring pilots have to worry about. We're far more likely to be jobless in the future because of bullet trains rather than automation...
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Nope. Why would one want to take a train from LA to NY for over 15hrs(unrealistically assuming nonstop @ 200 mph) when they can fly it for 4? Trains do not work well where we have the infrastructure in the NE. What makes you think that we will spend the money to create it? Trains work very well in a commuter environment, but not in long distance travel.
 
Thanks to everyone for the input, nice to hear some reassuring opinions, and sorry I didn't realize it was so "beaten to death" already.

:)Just don't click the link next time and you wont have to do this :banghead:
 
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