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Can Unmanned Aircraft Mix With Commercial Planes?
coondoggie writes "The Federal Aviation Administration this week signed a research and development agreement with GE Aviation to come up with a way to safely mix the burgeoning amounts of unmanned aircraft with commercial aviation.
With this research the FAA and GE hope to accomplish an aviation first by completing the research to facilitate flight of an Unmanned Aircraft System with an FAA certified, trajectory-based flight management system.
Integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace will be no easy task. The Government Accountability Office last year laid out the difficulties stating that routine unmanned aircraft access to national airspace poses technological, regulatory, workload, and coordination challenges."
I like the comforting feeling of knowing there's a pilot in the cockpit.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
I don't see the problem in this. As long as you give the aircraft a simple AI (planes practically fly themselves anyway), and a pre-set route, they should be fairly predictable. A simple in-the-air navigation system for collision avoidance and you're set.
Some how I think the technological aspects will be the least burdensome to implement...
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Heck with the way things are now, the Auto Pilot can nearly land a plane by itself.
The idea isn't too far off, but to an extent, we already have an "Auto flying" system currently in use.
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For the first generation or so.
Then it will be put on a single chip and mass produced. Look at cell phones. The first ones used discrete circuits and were big and heavy.
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I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
I'd love to have them get a proper air-traffic control system in place that can safely handle the load of piloted planes we have, first. Only after that would it be prudent to look at bringing UAVs into the mix.
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A great deal of commercial flight is already done automatically -- with autopilot. The only thing the pilot has to do in most cases is tell the aircraft where to go (which can be done using GPS instead). There are already planes that can take off, fly to a destination, and land using GPS and ILS. A pilot is still on board to push the buttons, but that's all he/she does unless there is a problem.
The unmanned aircraft should carry a self-destruct radio reciever and manned aircraft would carry a low-power transmitter.
If an unmanned aircraft comes within 1 mile of a commercial flight, it self destructs!
The transmitter could be a cheap $10 piece of equipment.
Problem. Solved. What could possibly go wrong?
All the unmanned aircraft at airports suddenly go BOOOM!! when the switch is turned on?
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Because if something goes wrong in the USA, the airplanes in question will be landing on US citizens and not Iraqi ones.
My guess is that because they don't have to worry about the safety of the occupants and they know the exact weight they would cut the margins finer on the power.
I'm sure you could build a uav with manouverability better than a fighter jet but for the majority of work UAVs do you want a plane that is optimised for other things (low speed flying, range, time in the air etc).
IIRC airliners are designed to have enough power that they can limp home with a whole engine down (though thier range is considerably reduced).
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If something goes wrong in Iraq, a multi-million dollar platform is lost, US pilots are killed (if it collides with a manned aircraft), and the US has to deal with bad publicity, pressure from Iraqi politicians, recovery of classified equipment in potentially hostile territory, etc. It's not like there are no repercussions if they crash a UAV into something. I understand it's different from flying in the US, but let's not act like theses are problems that no one has ever worked on. I skimmed the article and didn't find any mention of learning from the many years the military has of flying UAVs, let alone in civilian airspace.
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...landings are mandatory.
I want a pilot, or airline official, on the plane that I'm on. Why? Because I want the person who makes the decision about whether or not the plane takes off to have THEIR butt on that plane too. I don't want the decision made in an office building 1,000 miles away by somebody who knows they're going home whether the plane lands wheels up or wheels down.
-B-
Unmanned planes would be easier to do than unmanned cars.
We already have very good automation software for UAVs that can take off, survey, inspect, and land, mostly unassisted. If assistance is needed, such as to fire weapons, or in the event of an emergency or other engagement, it can be handled by remote by the operator. I'd expect these planes would be similar. Maybe hire some pilots and train them in unmanned systems, to handle emergencies. A human element in the system is about necessary, since it would be unreasonable to program in every possible scenario and outcome.
That being said, it'd be a lot cheaper to ditch an unmanned aircraft than it would be to ditch an airliner. Collision alarm going off due to a 747 heading towards the drone? Have the drone pull a 400G turn until there isn't a threat anymore. Worst case scenario, trigger an explosive to blow it out of the sky.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
We can argue all day whether the planes are SAFE. I'm sure they can be made safe enough eventually.
But the important point here is: THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO DEPLOY MILITARY EQUIPMENT AGAINST U.S. CITIZENS ON DOMESTIC SOIL.
The details of the technology are secondary to this violation of Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. And, again, we can argue about how much of the act is still available to citizens, but the real point is LET'S NOT GIVE UP ANY MORE!