FrankR Loc: NYC

Not entirely correct. I doubt there's a system that could perform a departure, with all the variables involved in taxiing out to the active runway, ATC delays, weather, etc. And none of the many commercial pilots I know would entrust his life, the lives of his crew and passengers, to an automated system for the take off roll, reaching rotation speed, making noise abatement turns and everything else involved in the procedure of take off. In spite of things like ground proximity warning systems, other types of radar, instrument landing systems, etc., you will never see a time when at least one of the pilots isn't monitoring all instruments and systems, nor will you ever find an empty cockpit.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

Where does the pilot sit in a drone? The controller can be thousands of miles away from where the craft is. So the machine is totally doing the actions you say can't be done by the machine.

Toy RC craft have been around for decades; drones of today are far heavier than picking it up and placing it in the trunk of a car as in the 1950's or 60's. After all they have been putting hundreds of pounds of ordnance on them to take out enemy personal. So they themselves, weigh far more than a person picking it up and placing it on a a run way. So this proves "I doubt there's a system" incorrect.

But we were talking about commercial air craft, where did I say, there is no pilot watching on a commercial craft? It is they who decide to engage the auto pilot and when and when to take it off. There, it just so happens that the controller is sitting in the pilots seat. The connection between the controller and the machine is nothing more than electrons and servos' whether in the seat or thousands of miles away.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right! Of course when something goes wrong, will the pilots have enough training and experience to take over and think fast? That's why that French airliner went down in the Atlantic. When the pitot tubes iced over, the autopilot shut off, and the pilots didn't know how to react. One was pulling up, and one was diving. Diving won.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

It's not the truth that hurts, it's the sudden realization of it. Some daredevil dies in a wing suit, some race driver dies in a car wreck at the track, a stunt pilot dies in a plane crash, I can feel bad but they picked it, it was a choice.

FrankR Loc: NYC

A huge difference between a drone, toy RC model plane and a B747 or A380 with 300+ people onboard. While the technology is great and many crashes are due to pilot error (perhaps most), a lot of lives have been saved by the Sully Sullenbergers of the world and there are no programs I'm aware of that can do what they have.

TucsonCoyote Loc: Tucson AZ

Controller is supposed to be in the Tower !
Pilot is in the Cockpit !

Fly by wire is dangerous enough in aircraft...now modern cars have
some systems controlled that way too, which is creating problems too.
...When the Tesla failed to see a frigging 70-80 foot 18 wheeler as big as a house
you have to ask yourself how close to workable is the system !....and if that had been
a small car with me in it I would be coming back from Hell with Lucifer in tow to kick some butt
and take names !

MtnMan Loc: ID

But inevitable and it will prove far safer than human drivers.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

I wish I could agree with you Wayne,
A good friend of mine just bought the newest of Jeep with onboard technology. He demonstrated two of them. First, if he got too close to another car, the micro chip applied the brakes. Second, if he drifted out of our lane of traffic, the micro chip turned the steering wheel. What did he do after that? He engaged in a job related conversation, an intense conversation, and then paid so little attention to what the Jeep was doing. And yes, we got so close to the car in front, and the micro chip applied the brakes. By the way, his career is medical research. He's very bright. But hey, "why not let the car do my job?"

In my 49 years of teaching (and I have another 20 planned ahead of me), one of the axioms I learned in my first five years to teaching is this: students/people raise or lower their performance in accordance to the expectation put before them. If a teacher expects little, students will perform little. You get the idea. And for the past 19 years I've been teaching college students (my first 30 years was teaching high school). Guess what? The same axiom applies to the students I currently teach.

So as less and less is expected of us humans, it seems natural that we perform and produce less. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that employers, or even spouses, should place unreasonable expectation before us. It's the role of the employer or spouse to study and determine what truly are "fair and proper" expectations. But expectations must be applied if we desire a good outcome.

I should add that I've been, and continue to be, a gadget freak as it were. I like my technology. But I want it to enhance my life, not erode it.

Okay, I'm kicking my soap box side, all the while thanking you for reading this.

Bill

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

[quote=elliott937]I wish I could agree with you Wayne,
A good friend of mine just bought the newest of Jeep with onboard technology. He demonstrated two of them. First, if he got too close to another car, the micro chip applied the brakes. Second, if he drifted out of our lane of traffic, the micro chip turned the steering wheel. What did he do after that? He engaged in a job related conversation, an intense conversation, and then paid so little attention to what the Jeep was doing. And yes, we got so close to the car in front, and the micro chip applied the brakes. By the way, his career is medical research. He's very bright. But hey, "why not let the car do my job?"

Better hope there is no computer glich, we all know computers never fail.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

If the pilot is controlling the air craft, he is a controller. Controller: one at the controls; such as all the controls in the air craft. In the English language most words are not restricted to one meaning. A tower controller controls his air field and tells the pilot what general direction needs to be done (such as 'turn two degrees right; what elevation, etc.''. The pilot control his air craft, actually turning the control stick two degrees right or adjusting the controls to get to the directed elevation. It is the pilot that controls the air craft, following the direction of the tower. Under no circumstances can a tower turn that aircraft directly. Two different people with two different jobs.

If fly-by-wire is so dangerous why is industry going for it. Even the military in the new jets are fly-by-wire. So have commercial jets been being built with it for quite a while. So according to your opinion, industry is putting in dangerous and faulty gear, namely fly-by-wire? Wow!

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

The party I replied to said it was not available and couldn't be done. Backing away from a gate using taxi ways, taking off etc. As you know I just used drones as an example, that it is very feasible because it exists within them.

I don't get the inference from your statement about Sully. Possibly I think that you are stating we need pilots aboard planes. I never said that we don't.

In 1987 a week after I visited Hawaii one of the jet planes for inter island travel had the roof blown off the air craft. It landed safely because of the pilot. Most of the rear controls including redundant, of the air craft were useless. He brought it in by using the engines to help turn the plane. Sadly one of the stewardesses was sucked out, but everyone else was safe because of the pilot.

When there was talk about reducing the crew aboard air craft and a pilot (not that one) said, let one accident happen and the pilot can greatly help to save the plane and the lives aboard. Hawaii was an example. And with the plane on the ground they were easily to determine why and correct it on others to prevent similar accidents. I am a firm believer in having someone at the direct controls even as an observer.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

Pilots of commercial planes are supposed to be trained and trained and trained on simulators to help in getting the right thing done when something goes wrong, in the jurisdiction of the USA. Can't say about foreign countries pilots not flying into the jurisdiction of the USA. That was a French flight and Brazilian jurisdiction; who knows what training they had? One could have being yelling in French and the co-pilot in Portuguese. What is the words for up and down in French and Portuguese?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Another problem was the unconventional design of the Airbus. Rather than having a yoke in front of each pilot, the Airbus has joysticks located toward the outside of the plane. Neither pilot could see what the other was doing with the controls, so one was heading up while the other was heading down. It was a combination of a bad design and insufficient training. The senior pilot didn't come back into the cabin till well into this mess, and he wasn't decisive in his actions.

Budnjax Loc: NE Florida

Self-driving cars and trucks are a great way for the government to further invade your rights, know where you are, where you've been.....etc., etc. In other words more control over you.