The flight system allows a plane to be remote operated by a pilot on the ground, which could streamline pilot airline operations in the future.
“pilot shortage” meaning “pilot salary shortage”. Fixed that.
There is no possibility of this ever causing negative effects of any kind, certainly it will not ever be misused (like one pilot being pressured into flying 5 planes at once bc… profit).
- Elon Musk, probably
This is what I expect to happen to truck drivers first. Automating driving still needs help in the last mile conditions but can navigate distances easily. I foresee fleets of automated trucks which are remotely connected to pilot centers where truck “drivers” sit at simulated driving stations and connect from truck to truck as they enter or leave warehouses or transfer stations. Instead of a small percentage of high-stress driving separated with stretches of monotony, it will be 8 hours a day, 5 days a week of high stress operating.
One interference away from crashing in a residential area…
I wonder how does ATC talk to the plane. Does it get routed to the remote pilot? The article describes controlling the plane through a series of menus. Does the pilot have enough flexibility when something unexpected happens like a sudden weather change or bird strike?
I’ve seen a tesla ‘self driving’ hit the breaks when approaching a bridge. No f-ing way am I flying on an AI-piloted plane.
Pilot shortage? I know more unemployed pilots that tech workers.
I’m pretty sure they don’t get paid anywhere near what they’re worth. Same old story in the US: anything that’s important to society, has to do with people’s health, safety, education, and so on.
Right? There’s no pilot shortage. Like with every other labor shortage it’s a wage issue.
It’s not just about wage. You could have great pay but terrible working conditions will discourage pilots from applying.
Never heard my retired uncle say a single good thing about his work as a captain for a commercial airline. Cheap tickets comes at a price.
Our modern economy and world are built on the need for wage stagnation. Unfortunately that only lasts so long and we’re reaching the end of it. That is going to come with a massive correction that is going to be pretty painful for the masses because the last thing the rich want to do is not be making as much money. So how they handle it will determine whether they live through it or find out what it’s like to be looking at the inside of the basket at the end of a guillotine.
Don’t most planes fly almost entirely on automated systems nowadays? The pilots mainly handle takeoff, landing, and monitoring the instuments if i’m not mistaken.
That said, remote controlling a plane of any kind seems like a very, very bad idea, cargo or not. If the 737 Max prevented pilots controlling the plane from the actual cockpit, I’d not like to think about what a similar plane would do in the event of a poor radio control signal and faulty instrumentation
Thousands of military drones have been remotely piloted for decades. This news isn’t as ground breaking as it might seem. Some of these drones are large: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk
I know a military drone isn’t the same as a passenger carrying airplane, but for cargo I think the only reason this isn’t already a thing is because drones are military tech and most governments don’t want that falling into the wrong hands.
