One does not
have to search long to find articles on the future integration of unmanned
passenger aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS). The article titled
“Pilotless Planes Could be Possible by 2025” by R. Ahluwalia (2017) discusses
technologies currently being developed that could take pilots out of the
cockpit of passenger airliners. The article cites the two major advantages of
removing pilots are a significant savings in the “cost of employing pilots” and
increased flight safety; since there will be no pilot error (Ahluwalia, 2017).
The article bases its conclusion on research conducted by UBS; the investment
bank.
The UBS 53
page research paper states that by the year 2025 it is technology feasible that
commercial air traffic could be unmanned (Castle et al., 2017). This idea works
well for cargo carrying aircraft but maybe not so much for passenger airliners.
According to a survey conducted by UBS, 54% of 8,000 survey respondents
reported they will not fly on an unmanned aircraft (Ahluwalia, 2017). To
overcome the fears of flying on board an aircraft without a pilot the approach
may need to be incremental. The first step would be to reduce the requirement
from two pilots to one pilot operations (Castle et al., 2017).
Boeing is
currently studying the potential for replacing pilots with artificial
intelligence (Gates, 2017). Boeing believes they can produce unmanned
autonomous aircraft with the same level of safety currently realized by manned
airliners but there are still many challenges that need to be overcome (Gates,
2017). When an aircraft experiences an unexpected emergency, pilots often have
to immediately analyze the situation and make a decision of action; it is
impossible to pre-program every scenario. Therefore, it is essential that the
onboard artificial intelligence is capable to independently react as a pilot
would (Gates, 2017).
Current
Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) do not support the use or integration of
unmanned commercial airlines in the National Airspace System (NAS). So even if
unmanned airliner technologies prove to be a realistic scenario by 2025, the
FAA must approve their operations which includes all phases of flight and
ground operations. According to the USB research report:
“ the
full FAA registration of a commercial plane would need to cover a number of
areas around the current design certification process, such as aircraft
certification software, automated conformity inspection, original design
approval, technical standards, and safety and product certification, which, we
believe, would need to be expanded on to allow for pilotless
planes” (Castle et al., 2017, p.26).
Additional
points of concern revolve around security, health and safety, and resistance
from the pilot’s themselves and their union (Castel, et al., 2017). What needs
to be understood is that this is coming. It will be an incremental approach and
start with cargo aircraft, and will most likely begin with reducing the cockpit
to one pilot with a robotic co-pilot onboard or another pilot monitoring the
flight from a Ground Control Station (GCS) who has the ability to remotely
control the platform if needed. Over time FAA regulations will have to evolve
to support these type of operations.
References
Ahluwalia, R.
(2017, August 10). Pilotless planes could be here within 10 years. Retrieved
from
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/pilotless-plane-remote-controlled-flight-drone-aircraft-2025-aviation-technology-a7884911.html
Castle, J.,
Fornaro, C., Genovesi, D., Lin, E., Strauss, D.,
Wadewitz, T., & Edridge, D. (2017). Flying solo - how far
are we down the path towards pilotless planes. Retrieved from
http://nzz-files-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/2017/8/7/93872795-5ab9-4f94-bb3a-f6ed38c6b886.pdf
Gates, D.
(2017, June 8). Boeing studies planes without pilots, plans experiments next
year. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-studies-planes-without-pilots-plans-experiments-next-year/
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