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An aircraft flying under autopilot with a human pilot present who is monitoring the situation and can respond to ATC instructions and take manual control if nec

An aircraft flying under autopilot with a human pilot present who is monitoring the situation and can respond to ATC instructions and take manual control if necessary is not remotely similar to a UAV from a practical perspective, despite the superficial similarity of both being flown by a computer.

saulrh 11y ago
I haven't seen a lot of "drones" that weren't being teleoperated at the level of aerodynamic controls. The ones that aren't ([1] is a good example) fly low enough that they wouldn't be visible to ATC in the first place [2]. And the humans may not be quite as in-control as you think; I can't find it, but there was a link off Reddit last week that said that pilots in commercial airliners are so infrequently in control of the airplane that they're starting to forget how to fly their planes. [1]: https://www.airdog.com/ https://www.airdog.com/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_horizon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_horizon
Evolved 11y ago
You are correct and I don't think sitting in the pilot's seat but not having your hands on the controls qualifies as "unmanned." Again, UAVs are not computer-flown. They're remotely piloted. They are not completely autonomous (yet.)
- dronehire 11y ago
  > Again, UAVs are not computer-flown. They're remotely piloted. They are not completely autonomous (yet.) This is incorrect. Most popular consumer-level autopilot systems used by companies like DJI and 3D Robotics have complete autonomous functionality (except sense and avoid capability) which allows the user to input a flight path and then watch the drone take off, fly through the checkpoints and then land, completely autonomously.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    As opposed to military killer-drones. Which goes back to upthread concerns. Military drones are remote-operated, not autonomous.
  - Evolved 11y ago
    I don't think we agree on what "autonomous" means. Preprogramming a flight path to follow doesn't meet the definition of autonomous nor does autopilot following waypoints. Autonomous, at least to me, means the drone takes off, searches out a sight ("drone, fine me a bridge and take pictures of it") and then makes the decision to fly to it and perform some kind of action whether it be photographic/videographic/some kind of monitoring (commercial drones) or a kinetic action (military drones). Basically, when drones get AI then I'd personally consider them to be autonomous. YMMV

saulrh 11y ago

I haven't seen a lot of "drones" that weren't being teleoperated at the level of aerodynamic controls. The ones that aren't ([1] is a good example) fly low enough that they wouldn't be visible to ATC in the first place [2]. And the humans may not be quite as in-control as you think; I can't find it, but there was a link off Reddit last week that said that pilots in commercial airliners are so infrequently in control of the airplane that they're starting to forget how to fly their planes. [1]: https://www.airdog.com/ https://www.airdog.com/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_horizon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_horizon

Evolved 11y ago

You are correct and I don't think sitting in the pilot's seat but not having your hands on the controls qualifies as "unmanned." Again, UAVs are not computer-flown. They're remotely piloted. They are not completely autonomous (yet.)

dronehire 11y ago
> Again, UAVs are not computer-flown. They're remotely piloted. They are not completely autonomous (yet.) This is incorrect. Most popular consumer-level autopilot systems used by companies like DJI and 3D Robotics have complete autonomous functionality (except sense and avoid capability) which allows the user to input a flight path and then watch the drone take off, fly through the checkpoints and then land, completely autonomously.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  As opposed to military killer-drones. Which goes back to upthread concerns. Military drones are remote-operated, not autonomous.
- Evolved 11y ago
  I don't think we agree on what "autonomous" means. Preprogramming a flight path to follow doesn't meet the definition of autonomous nor does autopilot following waypoints. Autonomous, at least to me, means the drone takes off, searches out a sight ("drone, fine me a bridge and take pictures of it") and then makes the decision to fly to it and perform some kind of action whether it be photographic/videographic/some kind of monitoring (commercial drones) or a kinetic action (military drones). Basically, when drones get AI then I'd personally consider them to be autonomous. YMMV