The solution to pilot shortage?

[GATRKGA]

This is actually bothersome...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/ai ... li=BBnbfcL

[cxchd]

Doesn't do much to encourage the next generation to be a pilot. It's already hard enough to get people to spend the better part of a 100k for training, work for minimum wage for many years and have no life to be a pilot.

[trey kule]

You can bet that prior to it coming on stream, the accident stats caused by pilot error and the statistical probabilities that safety will actually increase will start to be found on all media sites..

It is coming. Not that many generations people stated that cars would never replace the horse or carriage, and, truth be told, pilots and maintenance are the weak links in todays aviation safety, despite efforts to turn them into robots.

[Panama Jack]

I am fairly certain that it will happen within the next 20-40 years, but this article has a considerably more aggressive timeline. Honestly, after having watched the following video I really don't know what career direction advice I could give to young people:

https://youtu.be/7Pq-S557XQUthe

[bobm]

Excellent video. I took the time to watch the whole thing. Glad retirement is here.

Interesting listening to the analogy with respect to automated cars: "they don't need to be perfect, just better than humans". Speaks volumes. And yes, I think that is the way it is (needs) going to go. Look at Air France....

Just to say though, I would prefer a well trained, skillful and knowledgeable pilot at the controls. Those are getting to be in short supply though....

[Legacy]

As the terrorists lick their chops at the sight of this thinking "hey we don't have to get in the plane anymore. We just gotta blow up the building that controls 500 airplanes and we just did 500 times the damage we normally would." Don't see this happening. Opens up a whole new world to terrorism.

[rxl]

There is no longer any question of whether or not this will happen, it's a matter of when - and I suspect given the pace of technological development that it will likely happen sooner rather than later. Pilotless airplanes are just the tip of an enormous iceberg the likes of which we have never seen before.
Maybe it's time for the AI engineers to take a step back and ask themselves what the hell it is that they are doing. The technological singularity is fast approaching and when we reach that point us tiny blobs of organic material will no longer be in control - we will soon be left so far behind in intelligence by the machines that we will have little chance of understanding the technological universe that we have created.

[timel]

What's more, the technology could cut passenger fares by around 10 percent

10% for passe passengers.. err shareholders


When the year 2000 was about to arrive it was all about flying cars and whatever...
I actually checked the UBS report and it looks like a big piece of garbage.

Tschüss

[av8ts]

The day I see a pilotless airplane with all its snow and ice covered cameras and sensors taxi from the terminal to the deice pad at night on snow covered taxiways then to the runway with those same cameras and sensors covered in type 4 then I'll believe it

[Mach1]

The day I see a pilotless airplane with all its snow and ice covered cameras and sensors taxi from the terminal to the deice pad at night on snow covered taxiways then to the runway with those same cameras and sensors covered in type 4 then I'll believe it

Enter the Tow Crew.

[valleyboy]

Don't worry there will always be jobs. It's only small part of aviation operates modern equipment. just means all pilots might need to work for a living -- LMFAOOOooooo - eventually everyone gets old enough to realise, time marches on and waits for no one. We all will eventually start talking about the "good old days" --

[Rockie]

Confidence in pilotless aircraft is a dismissal of the need for human judgement. Ok in an expendable drone flying through hostile airspace, but a passenger plane that has to safely navigate extremely crowded, dynamic airspace with all the commensurate threats?

Nope.

[Eric Janson]

Exactly Rockie - people just don't understand the level of complexity involved in operating large jets.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been able to keep things running by doing computer resets.

[CL-Skadoo!]

Nope.

As soon as you say that, you're obsolete. Think of the things that the previous generations dismissed as impossible or too far fetched.
As I age I have to remind myself of that and try not to shut my mind to limitless possibilities that lay ahead.
I still can't comprehend that I can access the entirety of human knowledge from my phone. Yet here we are.

If you want to say "not in my lifetime", I'm with you. But 50-100 years from now, the people that have been entrusting their lives to self-driving automobiles for decades will be the ones ready to get on these airplanes.

[Rockie]

Obsolete?

I guess I'll just go sit in the back when things get busy then...

[CL-Skadoo!]

Obsolete?

I guess I'll just go sit in the back when things get busy then...

You're such a fragile soul.

[Rockie]

No really, if me or any other pilot is already obsolete we're not needed right? We are just getting in the way and of no use. More specifically the judgement we bring to the job is not needed since that's what we're discussing here.

You said I was already obsolete, I disagree. Prove I'm obsolete...

[trey kule]

As someone already pointed out, the technology does not have to be perfect. Just better than humans statistically. And the new generation is much more accepting to technology.

Yep, a couple hundred may die in a Sully-scenario, but thousands may not in Air France, SFO, air Asia situations. ,
As to resetting computers...that is a technology problem, and as such can be solved.

I would love to think that pilots and their fantastic judgement, ability to never be tired, never make a mistake, or use drugs or be sick, are so much better than a computer, but I think the future will show that the computer flies
it better more consistiently

[5x5]

As with all progress, when things change new opportunities arise. Humans have proven to be very poor at predicting what the the new opportunities will be but very good at hand-wringing and bemoaning the loss of what is/was. Certainly the job of piloting aircraft will evolve but I'm willing to bet that none of us can predict how it actually turns out.

The best approach is to keep attuned to the changes that are happening and be open to new ideas and procedures. It requires reading in more depth than facebook posts, Tweets, 6 paragraph tabloid stories (or whatever the social media tool du jour is). And after reading there needs to be some reflexion on what has been read to tie it into the overall change that is happening.

Best of luck to us all in this endeavour!

[Rockie]

As someone already pointed out, the technology does not have to be perfect. Just better than humans statistically.

How is that statistical comparison going to be made? And do we keep crashing automatic airplanes full of people in crowded civilian airspace until the stats look good for full implementation? Kind of reminds me of a phased in transition to driving on the left hand side of the road starting with trucks and buses.

And the new generation is much more accepting to technology.

The new generation is also more aware of how many times their life comes to a halt when their phones crash. Not a good comparison I think.