In about ten years do you think they will replace airline pilots with computers?

Question

Instead of the pilot landing,taking off the plane do you think a computer will?

Answer 1

Actually, a large portion of commercial aircraft flight is already computerized. Navigation computers can fly from one location to the other and make all the necessary turns without pilot assistance. Some are able to take off and land, but that is still more experimental. There are electronic systems that can help pilots land in bad weather using sensors, so it is forseeable that they could automate landing using a similar system.

However, I believe it will always be necessary to have at least a pilot there as backup in case a system fails or something goes wrong that the computer can't predict. I wouldn't feel safe on an aircraft that didn't have someone who could override the computer if something went wrong.

Answer 2

I doubt the complete removeal of the pilot will happen, at least not for a while (25+ yrs). However, it is likely that the removeal of the co-pilot will happen within 10 yrs. As others have mentioned all large aircraft (Airbus, Boeing, etc.) already have the ability to take-off, cruise, and land completely on their own. However there is still the requirement for someone to "manage" the functions of the aircraft, and that still means a person sitting in the cockpit. Plus the customers feel better knowing there's a person running things.

Now, that being said, the commercial aeronautics systems (airlines) invariably follows the military aeronautics systems (fighters/bombers) and right now the bomber pilot is being removed from the cockpit (Unmaned Arial Vehicle or UAV's like the Predator and Global Hawk). The planes can stay aloft for 24 hrs or longer at time... as long as there's fuel. No pee breaks, no food. Just fuel. And with the new fighters the human physiology won't be able to handle the g-forces of modern fighter designs (planes can easily handle 30-g's, but the human body can only handle 9 g's for brief periods). So an unmanned fighter just makes sense. Those developments will invariably trickle down to commercial aircraft... but it'll take time.

Answer 3

Not a chance. Computers are great and work as advertised 99.99% of the time. Given those odds that still gives you a failure rate of 1 in 10,000. That's better than a crash a week. Humans will always be needed to provide that last failsafe protection for systems malfunctions.

There are also things that a human simply does much better than a computer. Our vision is something a computer can't match. That flock of birds just off the runway wouldn't even register to a computer. We pilots, on the other hand can call tower and have them run a truck out to move the birds. A human can respond and avoid a transponder-less biplane flying heedlessly through the final approach corridor. A autopilot would not even know it was there till the midair. People are also a lot better at weather avoidance.

Lastly, a human pilot is the necessary element to deal with problems that can't be predicted. Think of the 737 in Hawii with the roof missing. What kind of computer could have dealt with that unforseeable mess?

Answer 4

Computers already fly the plane 95% of the flight. a.k.a "autopilot". The pilot only takes off and lands. A human pilot will always be needed to make decisions and human judgement is always needed. I personally hope they don't have computers that takeoff and land becauses I want to become an airline pilot and would like to FLY they plane a little bit.

Answer 5

It already happened! Most commercial jet aircraft land by computer every day. Pilots do it for practice mostly. Some airlines do not let the pilot land in inclement weather, the computer must do it. Pilots are there for the event that the computers fail for some reason.
Good Luck!

Answer 6

They already been flying with computers for over 20 years, the only thing the pilots do is makes sure nothing goes wrong during flight and land the plane

Answer 7

They've been able to do this since the 70s, they don't because they haven't made 100% reliable hardware yet and even when they do the public still won't accept a plane that flies itself. Even the space shuttle has had computer errors that have grounded it, having said that the space shuttle flight control software is some of the very best quality in the world, they typically deliver a zero error product. So there'll be someone along for the ride, who can take over when the software guys meet something they didn't anticipate, for the foreseeable future.

Answer 8

The serious answer is that no there will not always be airline pilots. The move is already on to eliminate humans from the cockpit for primarily one reason other than economics. In approximately eight five percent of aircraft accidents throughout history, crew error was sighted as a contributing factor in determining the cause. The premise is, eliminate crews, eliminate crew error as a contributing factor in accidents, and thereby drastically reduce accidents and make air travel even safer than it is today.

Now for the lighter side.

In future cockpits, a human captain will sit in the left seat. A large dog will occupy the copilot seat on the right. The job of the captain is to feed the dog. The job of the dog is to bite the captain if he touches anything

Answer 9

Doubtful. Computers do a lot of the flying already, but pilots are still needed to correct things and use human judgment in dealing with situations, such as landing.

Answer 10

lol they already have UAV's up in the sky (unmanned aerial vehicles) for spying purposes, BUT they still have "pilots." these pilots control them from computers at base or whatnot and not INside the plane itself. Commercial airlines..possibly yes, in teh next 10 years or so, most planes will be pilotless