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To: pabianice

Seriously, do you actually believe a commercial airliner will in in the near or even almost near future, say the next 50 years or so, be allowed to carry passengers without a qualified pilot up front?

Personally I would not board an aircraft to fly anywhere if I knew it was not being at least watched over by a qualified pilot. Some airliners already have the capability to take off, fly to the destination observing all way points and land without a pilot ever touching the controls.


7 posted on 10/27/2011 6:04:50 AM PDT by 101voodoo
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To: 101voodoo
“Some airliners already have the capability to take off, fly to the destination observing all way points and land without a pilot ever touching the controls.”

The first time I heard about that was in the early 1980s when Boeing was trying to get the 757 and 767 certified without having a flight engineer in the cockpit. Of course, the APA was up in arms about this prospect but the FAA allowed Boeing to proceed with its demonstration. Boeing then said that it would not only show that these planes could take off, maneuver, and land safely with no flight engineer, they could do all of that safely with nobody in the cockpit. The demo was a success, and the FAA certified both planes with a two-pilot cockpit.

14 posted on 10/27/2011 7:18:55 AM PDT by riverdawg
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To: 101voodoo
Seriously, do you actually believe a commercial airliner TRAIN will in in the near or even almost near future, say the next 50 years or so, be allowed to carry passengers without a qualified pilot DRIVER up front?

Well yes - how about right now in lots of places!

18 posted on 10/27/2011 7:51:37 AM PDT by I am Richard Brandon
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