Would You Fly on a Pilotless Plane?


Pilotless Planes - Yes or No  

64 members have voted

  1. 1. Would You Fly on a Pilotless Plane?

    • Yes, no problem
      10
    • Yes, but in a few years when technology / communications are better
      26
    • No
      28


Recommended Posts

Multiple layers of redundancy makes the possibility of that extremely small.

 

That doesn't answer the question though.  No matter how remote the possibility, it still exists.  Or any other major emergency that interferes with the autopilot's normal function.  So again, who flies the plane? Other than cost savings, is there any good reason to completely remove the pilot from the equation? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Big planes are computerized anyway....  which the pilots can rest during the traveling in the air and when they either take off or landing, they take over the controls so the pilots can do it by themselves instead of letting the autopilots take care of the planes.

 

In the near future, pilotless planes may be successful traveling from point A to point B without any failure in the network or computer.. I am sure they have back up system in case the primary goes down. The pilot may be with you on the plane  during the testing stage and see how it goes... if something is wrong, then the pilot will take over and go from there and report the problems/bugs to the mechanic/technical team. I am sure they have camera viewers in the airport communication center. 

 

Right now, Amazon is testing the Amazon Air for the package deliveries. If successful, then they will make more for the rest of the world as long as the each country permits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we don't know the statistics for computer driver error, especially in unpredictable circumstances,

and we will most likely to not know it, until they are used exclusively

(which might happen one day in future, but until it happens, there will be humans on the road, together with computers!

 

until then, i will surely trust an experienced pilot, with human intelligence and intuition, over a program that analyses certain data inputs only!

So far the only accident involving a computer driven car, was when a human driver drove into one.

I think people are greatly overestimating the ability of a human, while underestimating the abilities of a computer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So in the event of a complete electrical failure, who flies the plane? 

When both the pilots are incapacitated who flies the plane? When the controls to the cockpit are severed who flies the plane? As with everything there will be multiple layers of redundancy to ensure that the risk of failure is minimised. Will that eliminate risk? Of course not, but it could easily be brought to a level below that of human pilots.

 

More than half of all plane crashes are the result of human error. If safety can be improved through the use of pilotless planes them I'm all for it. People underestimate the degree that human error factors into safety.

 

Obviously pilotless planes won't be allowed until they have undergone rigorous testing. We're not going to see them suddenly take over and witness planes falling out of the sky because of a computer glitch. Some people are just resistant to change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i bet you don't want to know the number of actual bolts that hold the wings on, mind you they are strong bolts...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(Cortana Demo Video)

" Give me directions to Big Ben."

Cortana: "Giving you directions to ThisIsNotWorking."

 

Imagine a similar robot telling you that at 15K altitude.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That doesn't answer the question though.  No matter how remote the possibility, it still exists.  Or any other major emergency that interferes with the autopilot's normal function.  So again, who flies the plane? Other than cost savings, is there any good reason to completely remove the pilot from the equation? 

 

siah1214 has mentioned a very important point. In the case of military aircraft there are several significant reasons to want to remove the pilot from the cockpit - inability to pull high G manoeuvres, inability to loiter over a target area for extended periods of time etc. I'm not so sure comparable motivations are there for civil aviation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When both the pilots are incapacitated who flies the plane? When the controls to the cockpit are severed who flies the plane? As with everything there will be multiple layers of redundancy to ensure that the risk of failure is minimised. Will that eliminate risk? Of course not, but it could easily be brought to a level below that of human pilots.

 

More than half of all plane crashes are the result of human error. If safety can be improved through the use of pilotless planes them I'm all for it. People underestimate the degree that human error factors into safety.

 

Obviously pilotless planes won't be allowed until they have undergone rigorous testing. We're not going to see them suddenly take over and witness planes falling out of the sky because of a computer glitch. Some people are just resistant to change.

Statistics will never show how many accidents are prevented by human pilots, because they don't become statistics. 

 

I'm going to look into my crystal ball and tell you what will happen.  Eventually, all aircraft will be flown 100% autonomously, and someone, somewhere will decide "we don't need to pay these guys to sit up there".  So they'll take pilots completely out of the cockpit.  Then, maybe a month, maybe a few years later, there'll be a plane crash, a few hundred people will die, and the NTSB will conclude that the accident would have been completely preventable if there was a human watching the aircraft, at which point a new reg will be published mandating there be at least one person at the controls of every aircraft for the rest of history. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.