Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

[Bubba1235]

I was reading an article in Scientific American as an interview with one of the top R&D guys at Boeing. In it he was saying we have reached a point that a pilot simply isn't needed in commercial aircraft and that a computer is more than capable of take off, flight and landing and in fact is more effecient than a human pilot. Of course he cites the sucess of unmanned aircraft used by our military.

I don't know about everyone else but the chances of me getting on a commercial flight with no one in the cockpit is between slim and none and slim left hours ago. So how about you?

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Gonna have to agree. Let the computer fly it alone, but not without a breathing pilot there just incase.

Don't think so... actually I know so.

 

[Kohrah]

If ya put a hat on a snowball it can last a bit longer in hell. I use computers everyday and know how often the glitch. I wouldn't mind if the computer flew while a pilot was there for emergencies etc. But a human would still have to be in the cockpit for me to step on board

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[angus63]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

I totally agree with a military pilotless craft. It decreases the cost and increases the scope of mission objectives without sacrificing effectiveness.
But when I am a passenger, I want Capt. Sully in the port seat and Gen. Chuck Yeager close by in the starboard seat.

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

It'll never happen. However, there's a bit of a problem in aviation today with pilot proficiency, they hardly fly now. When those skills are needed they're needed. Give me the ability to send commands directly to the aircraft instead of wasting time with radios while we're working on this.

 

[oops!]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

i have read too many instances where it was the pilot that was able to control a damaged craft back to safety.

think about the first time an aircraft flew thru a volcanic ash eruption.......no one knew the consequences.... it was the pilots that brought her back on the ground safely. lets see a puter do that ! the puter would not have even known the aircraft was in danger until the engines cut out....never mind getting them re started before a crash.

the pilot can know where other planes landed on the runway and avoid the wind shear created by a heavy under full configuration......that shear is enough to flip a big plane. a computer just cant do that.....or even divert to an emergency feild that isnt in its data base or a road, or other make shift strip........

nope.....no thanks.....ill take a train.......(yup....puters on those.....but not in the air)

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Why not? Nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong.

11000101110010100100011011100101100111011101100110110111011101111101101*









* Translation - "This is your pilot speaking"

 

[mscher]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Would the computer, be able to make the quick decision, to glide Sully's doomed flight, into a smooth water landing, in the Huson River?

 

[JB]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Pilotless = passengerless.

 

[zopperman]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Pilotless = passengerless.

Absolutely. No way I'd get on a plane without a pilot there in case the computer fails. Too often have I seen electronics fail...

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

No Way in He!!...I don't trust the Pilots we have now, and I work with computers every single day and I am not going to trust a machine that is programed by a Man!

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

I'd rather take my chances with a capt. that falls asleep

 

[bassman284]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

I totally agree with a military pilotless craft. It decreases the cost and increases the scope of mission objectives without sacrificing effectiveness.
But when I am a passenger, I want Capt. Sully in the port seat and Gen. Chuck Yeager close by in the starboard seat.

Yeah. What's the computer's answer when the engines suck up a bunch of geese?

 

[gus-gus]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

I would like to take a moment and look at the possibility of there being a passenger aircraft, with passengers aboard, to actually leave the ground.

First off a few aircraft flown today are seriously dangerous for the pilot to take off or land without the support of a computer. One such aircraft is a Boeing 757-300. Extremely tough to hands-on landings, I was taught and have been told by pilots who had to land them un-assisted.
Secondly the way the drones are flown, they still require a pilot. But the larger issue is there are no passengers, ever.
Lastly our laws aren't even slightly or ever for reducing the operators (pilot) personal responsibility in public transportation vehicles, so to allow a un-piloted jet filled with people? There would have to be a revamping of all of our laws. Not gonna happen. But would I fly in one? Yes I would, I would claim shotgun first too!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Actually gus, modern fighters are for the most part unflyable without computers, there is even talk that in the not to distant future fighters will be flown via humans ,many miles from the front lines, its the future of combat and its actually a reality since our drones in afghanistan are flown by pilots in America I believe. All things considered modern fighters are held back by the physical limitations of the human body and the affects of G forces on the body so it makes sense that the engineers will simply remove the weakest part of the jet, the human. HOWEVER on a commercial passenger plane, yeah I want a warm blooded meat sack in the cockpit with the computer!!

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

If ya put a hat on a snowball it can last a bit longer in hell. I use computers everyday and know how often the glitch. I wouldn't mind if the computer flew while a pilot was there for emergencies etc. But a human would still have to be in the cockpit for me to step on board

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

That's already what happens. Airplanes already have auto-land and it is used quite often in the airlines.

People don't realize that 85% of aviation accidents are pilot error. A pilot is far more likely to kill you on any given flight than to save you. Think about all of the recent aviation accidents involving airliners....how many were mechanical or computer related, and how many were pilot related? The Colgan Air crash in New York, pilot error. The Comair crash where they took off of the wrong runway....pilot error. The airliner that went down in that frozen river when covered with ice....pilot error.

I'm a pilot and a airplane mechanic. I can tell you that the computers used in airplanes aren't your standard every day computers. They are multi million dollar pieces of equipment with multiple redundant backups. They are far more reliable than your standard PC. Of course they can mess up, but so can any pilot.

People just aren't ready for (in my best computer voice), "Welcome to Delta flight 925 service to Memphis. We are preparing for takeoff....*click* takeoff.....takeoff.....takeoff.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

I would be willing to bet that fifty years ago no one would have imagined fleets of giant Euclid trucks would be hauling ore and spoil out of the iron pits without drivers either.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Airlines are starting to use iPads for charts. Good idea/bad idea - I don't know. One thing about electronic charts is updates should be current whereas paper charts may or not be. Unless you aren't conscientious keeping the darn thing charged.

Now onto flying by computer. Sure they have multiple back-ups and automatic fail safes, but it all depends on how it is programmed. Anyone remember the NASA - talk about redundancy - mission that was lost because of one misplaced or missing character in the coding? Yes, it was a long time ago, but unless I'm missing something programs are still written and tested by humans. And they do it on Mondays and Fridays too.

I want to know who voted to be the guinea pig passenger - LOL.

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

The problem is that many things in aviation are routine, by the numbers mundane. However many also require judgement calls and computers don't do that well. How does a computer correlate the picture outside the window with what the wx radar shows especially when blanketed by one storm? It doesn't, and that's routine. How does a computer decide to change altitude or route when the ride gets bad? They don't.

 

[Cofe]

Re: Boeing - Replace the pilot with computers.

Yeah. What's the computer's answer when the engines suck up a bunch of geese?

The computer would report a fowled engine.........Couldn't resist....