The fond and familiar mumble of “this is is your captain speaking” could soon be a distant memory. New robotics could replace pilots on passenger planes within the next few years, according to experts. Doug Davis, director of the unmanned aircraft programme at New Mexico State University said:

We believe that unmanned aircraft are the next big transformation in the aviation industry.

The basic technology isn’t that new. Numerous military organisations around the world already use automatic landing systems that assist in landing on aircraft carriers or narrow landing strips. Additionally, autopilot has been around for nearly 100 years, and don’t forget unmanned drones.

So the jump to pilotless passenger planes won’t be that big of a deal. Some modern planes only need the pilot to manoeuvre the plane on the runway – take off and landing is automated.

Recently an unmanned converted Jetstream aircraft nicknamed “The Flying Test Bed” made a successful flight in United Kingdom airspace. At least most of the flight was unmanned, human personal was on board in case of an emergency.

[Source: BBC News]