4 ms·
Do the pilots need to be in the plane?
by alooPotato 12y ago
Do the pilots need to be in the plane?
- brandonmenc 12y agoIf they're in the plane, they have a greater incentive to land it safely - which is why I want a pilot on board with me.
- joelg236 12y agoThis kind of seems reasonable, why downvotes?
- dang 12y agoPlease don't post comments about downvotes. They add noise, and typically are soon out of sync with reality.
- potatolicious 12y agoWhat about the gigantic incentive to live resulting in poorer performance? We saw this on Air France - where the pilots' panic caused them to ignore readily available information that would have saved their lives. On the whole of it, I'd rather the plane be flown by a computer, with a remote pilot jumping in for extreme edge cases.
- brandonmenc 12y agoHow about all three? Computer, with a pilot on board monitoring things, and a remote pilot for extreme emergencies. Someone should be able to physically take some kind of control when the computer pilot breaks and the comm link to the remote pilot doesn't work.
- brianberns 12y agoI think this is a good solution, except that experienced pilots will eventually become quite rare after computers take over the job.
- nemanja 12y agoWell, that's more or less how it works today. Airline pilot's job is basically hours of boredom punctuated by minutes of terror. Computers do most of the work, pilots are there for takeoffs and landings (which could be automated) but more importantly for when things really go wrong. Airline pilots flying scheduled flights (Part 121) are in constant communication with the dispatcher on the ground. Dispatcher is trained to pretty much the same standard as pilots and helps with the planning, safety and can help with workload during flight. Having all three in place is probably why airline flying is so safe these days. On the other hand, I could see freighters (e.g. likes of FedEx fleet) fully automated in the near future (5 years? less?)
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoHere is a less radical question: if the plane was capable of flying itself, do two pilots have to be in the plane? Could we get away with just one pilot and still be at sufficient redundancy? And if the pilot had nothing to do, how the heck would they not go mad from boredom?
- WalterBright 12y agoThere have been many incidents where it took both pilots to save the airplane.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoThe point is not the past, but the future. There is a point where one pilot is reasonable, then none; so when will we get to 1p?