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While doing some research on airline stories for an aviation podcast when I ran across a similar headline. I have to say, as a veteran commercial pilot, I am never ceased to be amazed at the load of hooey that our news makers give the general public as factual. So to spite the top ten content providers I decided to sit down and give the public the real deal information and hopefully it will catch on.
First of all a little background is needed. The top results came from these sites 1. Money.cnn 2. The Guardian, 3. Independent.co.uk, 4. CNBC, 5. The Verge, Fox News, 6. BBC, 7. Mashable, 8. LA Times, 9. FT.com. Almost all of them had the same short amount of content regurgitated either from the Automated Press or from Reuters. All the articles are short and all lean heavily on two main thoughts: The word “could” and the survey of 8000 people.
Now I am sure some one is going to get their shorts in a knot when I say this, but what a bunch of hogwash. Is there a possibility of airplanes being operated by only one pilot or even under the pilotless planes concept? Sure, you bet, not a doubt in my mind, but let’s look at how this could happen with some basic facts that no news media is ever going to give you.
Every single one of these articles loved the idea that UBS was predicting that airlines that did not have to employ two pilots could save airlines billions of dollars that they could pass on to their customers in the form of lower ticket prices. But here is where the rubber hits the road, airlines already operate at a razor thin profit margin. Any type of a cost cutting benefit that they can explore and put into practice will not be passed onto the customer.
Oh sure, they will hem and haw about lower prices, and in fact they may indeed lower a price here and there to sleep better at night, but saving big dollars for the consumer, is not going to happen. The reason why is money, and money is the only thing that matters to any airline management group or individual investor groups. The move to pilotless planes will be a new era and when a new era starts, new rules of engagement come with it. There will be some genuine reason that becomes known that will not allow savings to be passed onto the consumer and it will seem logical, but the real reason is money. Money makes the world go around. So here are some points to consider about airlines using pilotless planes.
So there you have it, my top five reasons plus a little bit of attitude on top. I never even used the word “could” The only subject I did not cover is the human ability component of flying. While this could extensively increase the length of the ariticle, I decided to leave that subject to another discussion. Long story short, we need humans to make decisions that a computer or software cannot. If you have found this article useful or have an opinion, please leave a comment.
This video is a good start, but does not cover any of the topics that I have brought forth.
This video is better view of how airplanes are designed with pilot experience in mind. Its a good start to understanding Pilotless Planes.
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Tags: cyber attack FAA insurance companies pilot shortage Pilot-less pilotless airlines pilotless planes pilots
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December 10, 2017 at 2:26 am
Pilotless planes eh? I like technology and it never ceases to amaze me, but I just hope it doesn’t take all the jobs from us humans. Afterall, we all gotta live!
December 10, 2017 at 3:06 am
Thanks for the wonderful and informative article! Gosh this is so cool but scary at the same time.
December 10, 2017 at 3:45 am
Of course, technology applies a huge role on planes today because of so called, auto-pilot but, I don’t think that a human pilot can be 100% replaced by technology. There’s a lot of threat to this so, I don’t think that it’s possible.
December 10, 2017 at 6:26 am
Interesting article. I know next to nothing about the aviation industry so some of the points listed are new to me. Personally, I don’t expect that pilotless planes will be here overnight. I think I’ll be lucky to see it in my lifetime. It might take a while to make it a reality but I wouldn’t be surprised if it will come in the future. The industry just needs to solve whatever issues they are facing and do PLENTY of testing.
December 10, 2017 at 10:38 am
“Airline passengers are not going to swallow this one pilot or no pilot plane idea without a lot of grooming.” – I can’t agree more. We all have our reservations, especially that we care about our travel safety.
December 10, 2017 at 1:00 pm
This is very informative. I think it would be hard and very risky to go pilotless in the long run.
December 10, 2017 at 3:17 pm
I think it’s very relevant that you mentioned cyber attacks. Pilotless airplanes can be overwritten by those who have malicious intent and people may be in danger. Good one! Easily overlooked but poignant.
December 10, 2017 at 3:50 pm
Now I will admit that because technology is advancing so fast in this era, I find pilotless planes to not be a so over-the-top idea. The only thing is, I don’t see it in a couple of years like most people do. A couple of decades? Sure. But years? Heck no.
December 10, 2017 at 4:34 pm
I like this aviation topic, although am not too much to aviation. It give the progress of what happens in aviation and technology.
December 11, 2017 at 5:40 am
I can see this being beneficial in hazardous missions such as war, calamity etc. However commercially, I still go for the old fashion pilot.
December 11, 2017 at 8:36 am
This is a very interesting article. I never thought that pilotless planes existed. The world is really advancing huh!
December 11, 2017 at 10:46 am
Technological advancements are becoming more and more amazing. But my concern is the safety when applying these technologies.
December 12, 2017 at 2:05 pm
I agree with you that the whole idea behind the pilotless plane is really scary. To be honest personally I don’t think I can travel in a plane with no pilot or even 1 pilot for that matter.