Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

V (Highly likely) says

Every new plane that comes out is increasingly automated. Also, as time passes, there's less and less crew in the flight deck. Think about flight engineers, for example.

Unlikely says

Unlikely for a long time. First of all, there’s the technology which is there. Currently, automation has to be set and monitored by the pilots. It is extremely accurate and does fly the plane better than a person can, but it has limitations.

Most emergencies or abnormal events are known about and there are checklists to deal with them, but not every situation is the same or black and white. My specialty is flying airplanes, not computer science, but I find it hard to imagine current AI being able to properly handle a plane in an emergency, especially if it is a new situation.

There is also public opinion. I don’t like the idea because it takes a lot of jobs away, and I know many others don’t like the idea of a couple of hundred people being flown in an airplane completely controlled by AI.

The FAA is also notoriously slow with changing and adapting the rules. They have plenty of rules that are outdated and strange policies, but most of it is in the interest of safety. They prohibit people from flying unless they meet specific physical and mental health criteria. To my knowledge, pilots aren’t allowed to have any form of mental illness, and can’t take antidepressants or other similar things which could easily be treated.

The point I’m making here is that they’re slow to change and this big change would certainly take a while.

Michael (Highly likely) says

Airbus already has an airplane that can fly all phases of flight by itself.

Asher (Low) says

People aren’t trustworthy of artificial intelligence it could take 50 years+ for them to start being used alone and you’d still need a pilot just in case

Adam (Highly likely) says

I think it will be partially automated before fully, but that will have an impact on how many jobs there are by about half. If things can be automated enough to remove the co-pilot, then that will happen first. Then single pilots will be flying from home just like the military flies drones now. Over time, with the increase in AI that can make decisions in real time about outside factors, the planes will become fully automated.

Sean (No chance) says

Everything moves very, very slowly in the world of aviation. We still use technology from the 90s. There is no way it will be automated in my lifetime.

Thomas ( not yet) says

The average lifespan of an airliner is 20 years. Even if they started producing fully automated aircraft tomorrow, most of the planes would be manned for many, many years to come.

Ryan (Uncertain) says

Maybe or maybe not. I mean you could probably have something similar to those unmanned UAVs that the military has that are no pilots and use the same tech in the commercial airline but there’s still an operator of the aircraft by remote. Or they could just program the aircraft to do the set route and that’s it. I’m not a pilot nor do I plan on being one but me personally as a passenger would prefer a human for this one sorry robots.

JP (Moderate) says

Autoland already exists. Commercial ops will be reduced to a single pilot with autoland already existing. The biggest barrier is emergency management.

Yes (Highly likely) says

Cars are becoming automated, sea craft becoming automated, so why not planes? At the end of the day planes sort of have an "autopilot" feature so it's only a matter of time before they're fully automated

MMS says

Will not be flying...AI cannot make good decision...Needs a human

sev (Moderate) says

with drone technology pilots may not even need to fly.

Amin says

Illogical. Pilot can be offset with proper flight planning software, making its higher risk in being replaced with aircraft engineer or aircraft technician.

Boris (Low) says

There may still have pilots to control the plane if robots have some accidents.

looney townes says

People forget that the aviation is a heavy safety regulated industry. The technology is there but the cost benefit analysis is not. It is going to happen eventually but not in our lifetime, anybody who can read this. Single pilot airliners will start with cargo operations then proceed to airlines. If single pilot airliners are proven to be well trusted, then fully autonomous planes will be up next. This is going to take decades upon decades to even be invented, if ever.

Pavel (No chance) says

This occupation is reliant on skills that require being able to make very complex choices based on the context of the situation/problem. I don't see machines or AI developing the necessary skills on the near future.

Anonymous (No chance) says

Because even if bots could do everything, we still need humans in case something goes wrong

Mehmet (Highly likely) says

Pilot costs are second after fuel, it will help.

Abraham S T Mariam says

AI aircrafts will definitely take over real soon for 2 main reasons: Commercial Boeing have estimated to save over 40 Billion dollars by eliminating the commercial pilot his co pilot and flight engineer.

This is a business move and money is the reason for all things and all agendas. 2nd reason, autonomous software has a much better precision on working the system than the pilot or the flight engineer, back in the days the flight engineer would often make mistakes and push the wrong button and the plane crashes leaving everyone dead.

Autonomous software will never make a mistake. So many sensors will be built in on the air craft that can sense all things and nodes on the air craft will communicate with the cloud meaning the pilot can man the plane like a drone. Autonomous software will maintain the air craft 24/7 bu using algorithms, consequently eliminating any type of failure to occur.

Another thing, 5G technology is being implemented, we are in the early stages, give it about 5 years before we are living in a fully functional 5G world and you will start to see smart cars and smart homes, that being said smart planes will be more efficient in a world of 5G.

Vikrant (No chance) says

Less trust on machines in case of emergency