Pilotless Planes

By Deane Barker

It seems that planes don’t even need pilots.

Advances in sensor technology, computing and artificial intelligence are making human pilots less necessary than ever in the cockpit. Already, government agencies are experimenting with replacing the co-pilot, perhaps even both pilots on cargo planes, with robots or remote operators.

This in the wake of the Germanwings crash where the co-pilot purposely flew his plane into a mountain. Remove the human, remove the threat.

According to the article, the crew of a Boeing 777 spends just seven minutes per flight in manual control of the plane.

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