Posted on 10/27/2006 2:46:42 PM PDT by Hal1950
The European Airbus Consortium announced to day it will release the first totally unmanned commercial aircraft. The new A-400 will taxi, take-off, fly the route and land itself, all without human interaction.
They also announced there will be no flight attendants, just a vast assembly of coin operated food dispensing devices.
Airbus executives say they decided to go ahead with this controversial aircraft when it became apparent no rational pilots or flight attendants would accept assignments on the recent fly-by-wire aircraft.
I wouldn't mind flying in their plane, it's when the thing decides to land somewhere other than an aiport that I would find objectionable.
Has there been a crash caused by a computer crash yet?
Satire today, reality tomorrow.
Actually, I could see it for a cargo plane like FedEx or something.
Why not? Airbus management seems to have been the pioneering unit on this. Nobody can convince me actual humans have been making some of their management decisions.
We know.
But it spawns much fun!
If they don't feel safe enough to fly it... why would I feel safe enough to be carried by it??
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome aboard the first totally unmanned commercial flight. There is no flight crew; instead,
the entire flight is controlled by a sophisticated computer.
This system has been thoroughly tested, so relax and enjoy the
flight with the certainty that nothing can go wrong....
go wrong...go wrong...go wrong...."
tooo funny... 8^) i surprised the airBUST planes don't have EjectionSeats for the pilots...
the only thing worse than getting on an a-380, would be getting on an a-380 with E-Seats for the pilots so they could leave when things start to get sporty like.
I don't know about a computer crash, but didn't an Airbust plane crash because the pilot selected "landing" mode, tried to go around and the computer wouldn't let him?
Don't worry. They thought of everything. Its designed so there will always be enough fuel to get you to the crash site.
Open the pod bays doors Hal...
I don't know about a computer crash, but didn't an Airbust plane crash because the pilot selected "landing" mode, tried to go around and the computer wouldn't let him?
_____________
Almost. The first officer mucked up the approach and correctly hit the go-around button. The captain decided to take control and override the computer in an attempt to land in Osaka. The airplane zoomed straight up and then fell straight down.
Nope, wrong one, and that was the second one.
The first one was the Airbus 320's premiere flight at the Habsheim, France airshow where the computer refused to accept any inputs on a low level pass and flew straight into the nearby forest. From http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/boe202.shtml:
"Lauber said the pilots were supposed to fly by with the gear down at about 100 feet. Instead, they came in at less than 30 feet off the ground. When the plane gets below 50 feet, the computer assumes the pilots are trying to land, Lauber said."
Thing is, which an Airbus will allow you to break the hard limits by turning off "normal flight law", you may not have time to turn it off because you're busy trying to save the plane. Case in point was the 1985 China Air 747 incident where the plane was tumbling in the sky and the pilots pulled 4G+ maneuvers to get the plane back under control. You'd be a bit too busy to turn off the normal flight law system... And, not incidentally, I'm not sure the A340 competitor for the older 747 *can* pull that amount of Gs in any flight law mode.
If it's not Boeing, *I* am not going.
And you'll beat the paramedics by a half hour!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006
http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/ComAndRep/ChinaAir/AAR8603.html
The plane made it home with significant portions of its tail missing, and the wings were permanently bent upwards 2".
Interestingly, that plane is *still* in service; happily flying around the world.
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