Automated trains and cars - with this thought we have already begun to get used to. What about an unmanned aircraft? In truth, most passengers would be uneasy at the thought that no one was in the cockpit.
Are you afraid of flying?
Many of us are afraid of air travel and are experiencing real panic attacks as soon as the airplane’s landing gear comes off the ground. Of course, the fear of heights, the realization that there are a dozen kilometers under you - all this can unsettle you. But most of all, the professionalism of the pilots causes uncertainty: are they experienced enough, in what condition are they today, did they have stress before the flight?
Does this mean that it would be more pleasant to fly an airplane controlled by an on-board computer without the human factor?
The future is near
The technology already seems to be there - drones are not a particularly new invention. The army has long been using an unmanned aircraft in a war zone, and they are remotely controlled. There are unmanned helicopters that deliver medicines to dangerous and inaccessible places with amazing accuracy.
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Air fleet accidents are rare today, but if they happen, it’s becoming harder to figure out the cause of the crash. Therefore, research often focuses on the human factor, identifying psychological and physiological problems among pilots as a likely cause.
The argument of those who advocate the transfer of civil aviation to computer control sounds something like this: if 95% of the entire flight time is spent on autopilot, why not automate the remaining 5% - takeoff and landing? Computers and ground-based systems control the flight very accurately, repeat all the necessary trajectories, and are never drunk. They do not get tired and are not distracted. And therefore, the logic is simple: flying without a pilot is safer.
What for today?
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Chinese company Ehang introduced the first passenger drone, the Ehang 184 electronic quadrocopter. It can accommodate one person with a small backpack, and even has air conditioning and light. To take off, the passenger must set the flight plan by pressing the “Take-off” and “Earth” buttons on the tablet, and the computer will do the rest. With the propellers folded, the aircraft takes up as much space as a small car.
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There are other similar efforts to develop personal air transport systems. In the United States, an experimental aircraft with two passenger seats passed flight tests last year. The brainchild produced by Aurora Flight Sciences Corp is called the Centaur, it can be operated by the pilot from the cockpit or from the ground, and during the test the device successfully flew without people on board.
In the UK, research into civilian UAV concepts was conducted by a consortium of public and private companies called Astraea. In 2013, the British government allocated £ 62 million to continue the experiments. The goal was to develop the latest technology, for example, to detect and prevent collisions, protect communications, etc.
Experimentation by experimentation …
But whether it is a plane controlled remotely or using an artificial intelligence system, by pressing a button or a ground command, you need to answer one fundamental question. Will we feel at ease at the plane if we cannot see two smartly dressed pilots at the helm who greet us aboard, calmly announce flight and weather information? Maybe it's all a matter of habit? That we associate safe flight exclusively with the crew and its professionalism?
People most often find it easier to control the situation while in a vehicle than remotely. Most people don’t really trust the remote control of a car or airplane.
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It is worth considering that today no one thinks twice before getting into the elevator, although several decades ago an operator or an elevator was required for their safe operation. The same can be said of unmanned trains and cars with automatic control. This shows that society is currently undergoing a psychological shift towards autonomous vehicles. There is no doubt that the future generation will live in a society where cars drive themselves, and unmanned aerial vehicles will become commonplace. Most likely, large passenger planes, which fly on their own, will not be an exception.
A car is not a plane
Yes, this is also a reasonable question. In the end, if the automation breaks down in a car or on a train, there is always a back-up mechanical control. And if the autopilot fails at the plane, it will fall. And therefore it is understandable why many people worry in advance about flying, while not many of us are nervous about driving a car or train.
But, again, computers do not suffer from mental stress, which leads to incidents, such as occurred with the participation of pilot Andreas Lubitz, who sent a Germanwings passenger plane up a mountain in the French Alps in 2015. Unmanned aircraft can potentially prevent such incidents. This is not in order to denigrate living pilots, after all, there is no autopilot so far that could catch a highway or a river, as a person can. But the car does not get tired, does not succumb to emotions, does not allow fear or fatigue to affect its performance and does not make the wrong decisions. She just does what is programmed to do. And therefore, researchers are sure that in the long run they will be safer.
