Would you be a passenger in an unmanned plane?

I was watching NOVA the other night & the program was about UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles). They are commonly used in the military to assist the manned ones.

Then it was brought up that in the future the airliners could dispense with pilots & passengers could board a plane with no pilots.

Would you board a plane that flew itself?

I think I would after it's been tested to be safe for at least a few years.

Technically we already fly uav's.Airliners go on autopilot computer for most of a flight after takeoff.

if you're in the plane, wouldn't that make it a "manned" plane ?

terrorists wouldnt be able to hijack it then.....cool.

Lol...Think he meant no human pilot at all.Take Globalhawk for example,no pilot cockpit just pure computer flying and navigating from takeoff to landing.It is possible.I wouldnt fly in one straight through rough weather though.

Oh i soo dont know about that! lol

Im bad enough getting on a plane with a man flying it
To think no pilot ahhhhh

What happens if theres a tec fault?

They might not be able to highjack the planes but that doesn't mean they cant blow them up with hundreds of passengers on board. Other than that I probably would love to be one of the first passengers to ride...no worries. Why not ride it its probably safer than the alcoholic pilots i always hear about on the new getting arrested for trying to fly drunk and they dont get fatigue from flying just some maintanance. But there is a downside to it because it will take jobs away from pilots...

So confusing!!!

The new planes now ,the pilot is just another backup system.There are no direct control to the aircraft controls,its all fly by wire.Was talking with the chief test pilot for Lauftanza (excuse spelling) on the Airbus 340 and he said that all he did was start the aircraft and taxi away from the termanal and if the airport was setup for it the computer took off and flew to to programed destenation and landed there and he would taxi it to the termanal.All there is in the cockpit is computer screens and 2 easy chairs,I seen this for myself.There was what looked like a Nintendo joystick on right hand armrest.Airbus 340 has been out in use for over 10 years now and I'm sure the systems are better now

Originally posted by REASON
terrorists wouldnt be able to hijack it then.....cool.

no they will be HighHacking them

Originally posted by Questor
Would you be a passenger in an unmanned plane?

Don't count on me.

I fly ONLY with planes who have pilots AND ejection seats. No pilot(s) and/or no ejection seat(s) = NO WAY.

Anyway, a computer cannot replace a human, especially if there is a problem.

ummm no thanks flyin with a pilot bad enough.
i can picture it now.

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well thats wot happens in my flight sim games anyway

You would still have a ground base pilot, to oversee the flight(s) I would assume. But this would lower the airlines labor cost as one pilot could oversee two or maybe three flights or maybe more.

The problem is the emotional detachment, what if you have a rouge ground based operator that just felt like driving your plane into the ground and can simply turnoff his control panel and blame it on a terminal fault on the ground that gave the mixed up signal to the aircraft causing it to crash.

With the pilot in the cockpit although not actually flying the aircraft he has the responsibility for his own life as well. So would be less prone to intentional destruction.

I truely believe though that someday all modes of transportation will be programed operated and the human occupant will just be along for the ride.

"cars" then or personal transportation could then be a public resource that you would just get in and go to your destination. From there someone else would take that same car somewhere else. And at the end of the day you would take a different "car" to your home and it would drop you off and either auto return to a depot center or be available for the next person in your area.

You could still have private enterprises that "own" larger transports, but you would no longer "own" personal transportation.

How cool will that be, you program in your schedule into the NET and at the time you need to leave a "car" shows up and you get in. Your preprogramed route then takes you to work.

For on the fly trips you go on the NET or use your "phone" to request a car and then when you get it you could give it verbal commands to take you somewhere ie GO TO HOME DEPOT ON MAIN, and the GPS database will look at its present position and then the business directory for that area, pull up any multiple listings and then ask you to confirm which one.

Simply press the button or verbaly confirm 1,2,3 etc and off you go.

You go in and shop and when you are at the register when you pay the POS automatically calls you a "car" and has already forwarded your home information to the dispatch computer so when you walk outside a car with your last name is flashing on the side.

You get in and it ask you to confirm your destination or select a new one.

How cool would that be


[Edited on 25-2-2004 by robertfenix]

[Edited on 25-2-2004 by robertfenix]

I would if there was a backup guy that could fix it if it had a glitch.

the airliners are on auto pilot most of the time exept for taxing, taking off and landing. But incase of W2k the pilots can fly the plane with no auto pilot.

How could ypu be a passenger in an unmanned plane? If your the man or woman wouldnt the plane then be manned. You could say un-piloted but if the plane is being piloted from the ground ,,,,,Oh ..this is a trick question right.

Originally posted by madmartinez

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Oh man that would suck!!

Muzz

Would you board a plane that flew itself?

Hell no.... Having worked in the computer biz for years, I've learned one thing.... Computers go down... If flight computers go down, plane goes down. Plane goes down, passengers die. No thanks....

I don't care how secure it is...I want a human being to have the ultimate responsibility of keeping the plane up....

Drunk pilot or no pilot ?

www.wired.com...

How funny that www.wired.com has an article about this same discussion right now. And where the airline industry is heading, towards un-piloted commercial aircraft.

Would I? Hell yes I would. Unfortunately all the powers that be in the airline/aviation industry would never buy off on UAV to transport passengers. As someone mentioned, airplanes virtually fly themselves now, from takeoff to cruise to landing. Instead, let's just give pilots the opportunity to carry a gun instead...lol.