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Pilot-less Airplanes

Pilot-less Airplanes

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 14.5%

  • No

    Votes: 16 21.1%

  • Hell no

    Votes: 45 59.2%

  • If the price is right.

    Votes: 4 5.3%
  • Total voters
    76
^dub^

^dub^

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This is a pretty fun discussion in pilot circles and I thought it would be interesting to get non-pilot opinions on the topic. Would you get on an airplane controlled only by computers with no pilots in the flight deck? One pilot? Would ticket price make a difference?

How do you see the future shaping up for this? I don't believe we will see this in our lifetimes. Mainly because of the infrastructure and the time it would take to implement all the technology and testing that would make this a reasonable option. Driver-less cars are only now being tested thoroughly with no real idea of widespread implementation.
 
^dub^ said:
This is a pretty fun discussion in pilot circles and I thought it would be interesting to get non-pilot opinions on the topic. Would you get on an airplane controlled only by computers with no pilots in the flight deck? One pilot? Would ticket price make a difference?

How do you see the future shaping up for this? I don't believe we will see this in our lifetimes. Mainly because of the infrastructure and the time it would take to implement all the technology and testing that would make this a reasonable option. Driver-less cars are only now being tested thoroughly with no real idea of widespread implementation.
Click to expand...

Like you said, not in our lifetimes. I think the human element is a very important piece of the equation -- However I am comfortable with the idea of auto-pilot for a majority.
 
^dub^ said:
This is a pretty fun discussion in pilot circles and I thought it would be interesting to get non-pilot opinions on the topic. Would you get on an airplane controlled only by computers with no pilots in the flight deck? One pilot? Would ticket price make a difference?

How do you see the future shaping up for this? I don't believe we will see this in our lifetimes. Mainly because of the infrastructure and the time it would take to implement all the technology and testing that would make this a reasonable option. Driver-less cars are only now being tested thoroughly with no real idea of widespread implementation.
Click to expand...

I have less thoughts because my friend is a captain for Delta and has been for 30 years. I believe we actually will see it in our life time, however maybe not at the complete consumer level. I know how some of the flying works on a general scale and what the computers are doing and what they can do. I think you will see 1 pilot flights in the next 15 years though.
 
I went with option 3. #@!! no. Auto pilot is fine as long as there is someone in the cockpit monitoring the entire flight.
 
Im not sure I'm completely against it but I can't help but want that human element involved somewhere.
 
not sure we will get to fully automated flights as I think you will need a human in case emergency, but with the way technology is going, I would do it.
 
I know mentally it really should make no difference. Psychologically...there's just something that makes me feel better about the pilot's fate being sealed with mine.
 
No way in this world would I. Nope. Not going to do it. EVER
 
The debate reminds me of the Office episode with Dwight vs the Computer.
Also reminds me of the debate of people manually shifting vs the computer.
 
I barely get on a plane WITH a human pilot.
After getting to know a couple hundred fighter pilots in my days, I can tell you even the most 'questionably able' ones would still be far better than a machine.
 
JB said:
The debate reminds me of the Office episode with Dwight vs the Computer.
Also reminds me of the debate of people manually shifting vs the computer.
Click to expand...


hahaha totally
 
In the interest of my job security...... NEVER!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I said if the price was cheaper I would consider.
 
JB said:
The debate reminds me of the Office episode with Dwight vs the Computer.
Also reminds me of the debate of people manually shifting vs the computer.
Click to expand...
Haha love the Office! For the manual tho id like to think if my transmission fails I wont die lol
 
So many things are already automated. Look at how many drones take off and land safely. This would be no different. It's like everything else, we'll get used to the tech and learn to live with it. There will be some that will still refuse to fly, but if you have to for work or family emergency, I'd bet people would still get on. Truth be told, most people wouldn't even know the difference if and when it happens unless it is announced at the beginning of the flight.
 
From a technical standpoint, there's no barrier to doing this - the military is flying aircraft across the world looking at a screen. That said, there's a lot bigger issue if something goes wrong in a UAV vs. a commercial flight. That fact makes me uneasy about the thought.
 
This might happen sooner than some think... but it would be for freight/ mail first.
 
Equipment fails. I don't see how you can ever have flights completely void of human pilots.
 
mpeterson said:
From a technical standpoint, there's no barrier to doing this - the military is flying aircraft across the world looking at a screen. That said, there's a lot bigger issue if something goes wrong in a UAV vs. a commercial flight. That fact makes me uneasy about the thought.
Click to expand...
IMO flying unmanned drones over remote locations isn't the same thing as fully automated commercial airliners flying into the busiest airports in the world.
 
Yeah I'm in the hell no camp. I just don't see me getting on a flight that doesn't have an actual pilot.
 
TexasHacker34 said:
I said if the price was cheaper I would consider.
Click to expand...

without knowing how much pilots and copilots earn, I can't see how adding more technology, and moving the pilot job to a base somewhere would make much difference in the ticket price.

I can see the point in fighter jets where there is a risk for the plane to be shot down, but I would never go in a plane without a pilot.
 
Nope not me !
 
well they say the Joint Strike Fighter will be the last fighter jet to be made with human pilots, so commercial flying won't be far away. Probably take out the human factor, which is good.
With cars they figure by 2025 we won't be able to drive them anymore as we won't be as quick enough or safe as the computer.
 
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seriously though, how much money would it save?

IF a pilot and copilot makes, lets say a thousand dollar each per 5 hour flight (this is a number I just randomly put out, I have no Idea.

you would have to have a tech somewhere in an office earning what, maybe 20$ an hour or more to repalce him?

lets say you save about 1900$

and put a conservative average of 150 people on that plane, they could potentially save about 13 bucks each? that is very far from being worth the risk, IMHO


again, most of these numbers are totalyl random, but I would think they are somewhat close to the reality.
 
Yes, I would.

While I understand the emergency concern we've also seen situations of pilots gone bad and this would alleviate that.
 
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