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Pilotless Planes Could Save Airlines $35 Billion Per Year, But Passengers Aren't Willing To Fly In Them Yet (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report from Fortune: Autopilot is hardly a rarity in the world of commercial air travel. But when it comes to a fully automated flight, most people say "hard pass," at least for now. The pilotless plane could save airlines as much as $35 billion per year, according to a new survey from UBS, reducing the cost of highly skilled employees ($31 billion), related training ($3 billion), and fuel ($1 billion). The deployment of autonomous technology could result in significant fare cuts, an estimated one-tenth of the total in the U.S. And yet 54% of passengers refuse to board a remote-controlled plane, according to the survey of 8,000 air passengers. That sentiment will change over time, the investment bank notes. By the middle of the century, the majority may be willing. But UBS said passengers won't do it today, even if ticket prices were lower -- a big hurdle to airlines, which the bank estimates could see profits double by using the technology. Much like the automotive industry, most passengers don't realize that there are quite a few autonomous systems already in place on today's aircraft -- including those that land the plane.
We all know the airlines will use this technology to replace the pilots, but they'll keep the fares the same, sell a few more seats in the cockpit, and then kill your dog just for laughs.
Gotta say, that's a pretty convincing argument. This article puts some flesh on that story:
http://lifehacker.com/the-power-of-mental-models-how-flight-32-avoided-disas-1765022753
Hard to imagine that plane being landed safely by autopilot or remote control.
Welcome to modern aviation, where Dairy Queen is a better paying job until you have a decade of seniority at your current employer. New rules that went into effect after the Colgan 3407 crash mandate that airline first officers (co-pilots) must have a minimum of 1500 flight hours to be hired. That's 6 times the pre-2013 minimum of 250 hours, and the limit was imposed overnight. Those 1500 flight hours have to be earned somewhere.
The general career path for someone wanting to fly for a major airline is PPL (private pilot), a few years working as a CFI (flight instructor) to build time, getting a CPL (commercial pilot) license, flying commuter / cargo to get to 1500 hours, getting hired at a regional as a first officer, upgrading to captain, getting hired at a major airline as a first officer, upgrading to captain. That journey can take 15-20 years (there is no "pilot shortage" any more than there's a shortage of American IT workers), and you won't be earning very much along the way.
Pilots are desperate to get to 1500 hours so they can apply for a position at a regional airline and get their career ladder started. Commuter carriers know this and take full advantage of pilots. There are operations out there where you actually pay the company for a job in the cockpit.
I fly the airbus A320. The plane was developed 30 years ago and they are still finding software bugs in it. Every now and then some combination of conditions happens that nobody planned for and it's up to the pilots to fix it. Without pilots, the number of crashes would have been astronomical. Computers fail all the time.