Photo: Airbus
An Airbus A350-1000 conducting the autonomous (‘pilotless’) fight test
Will pilotless planes be a reality in the future?
Well, there will be planes flying around without pilots in the future but the question is, whether the airlines could put fare-paying passengers in the back of the aircraft. In one survey, it was found that only 17 % of travellers feel comfortable flying in a pilotless plane.
The technology is there to remove the pilots from all manual controls. This will save the airline industry around 30 billion dollars but the transition to pilotless planes will take effect over a long period. The likely scenario is that it will start off with cargo services and then followed by passenger flights.
In fact, in December 2019 Airbus had successfully completed a first test using the Airbus A350-1000 (see pic), moving from the gate to the runway, taking off and landing without the pilot handling the controls. `
Who will replace the pilots?
The progression to pilotless flight would start off with only one pilot in the cockpit then followed by none at all. Passengers’ needs would still be attended by a Senior Cabin Manager. The “pilot” would be someone on the ground performing the flight duties like in the NASA’s mission control centre.
The concerns
Without a captain, there are concerns such as who will take charge of the plane in an emergency landing? Who is to override the system when there is a glitch or a cyber-attack? Well, all these and many others will be addressed before we go pilotless.
During the pre-Covid-19 pandemic, pilot salaries along with fuel were among the highest expenditure in the running cost of an airline. With pilotless planes and use of artificial intelligence, you will not only see a drop in the ticket price but also a safer ride as 80% of aircraft accidents were attributed to human errors.
Conclusion
In 2002, Craig J Mundie, the research and strategy officer for Microsoft made a $2000 bet with Eric Schmit, then CEO of Google that by 2030, commercial passengers will routinely fly in pilotless planes.
However, I am pessimistic about Craig’s wager on the 2030 date.
To the aspiring pilots who often ask me how pilotless flights would affect their future career, my opinion is that it will take much longer than 2030 for the pilot jobs to become redundant.
Boeing has forecasted that the World will still require 800,000 pilots for the next 20 years. As such, their flying jobs will still be required by then.
Flying on a plane without a pilot will be a reality in the future.
However, it is difficult to forecast exactly when pilotless planes will be the norm. According to Richard de Crespigny, the Qantas captain that safely landed a crippled Airbus A380 in Singapore in 2010, he said that it will be around 2060 when pilots’ jobs will start to become obsolete
For more, see here – Will There Ever Be Pilotless Planes?