Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, and landing tests

Re:Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, ... by stunt on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @03:32AM (#23973277)

> Because not all runways are equipped for CAT III autoland (i.e. the aircraft is not capable of landing itself without a shit-ton of calibrated equipment on the ground being there first, also good luck finding a CATIII autoland somewhere mountainous or with an otherwise tricky approach).

I think if you get must of the major airports covered that's still good enough. But, if I understood this article correctly, what Airbus is trying now is to make it happen without those ground requirements. And I'm sure they do not expect to cover every airport and runway to begin with.

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Re:Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, ... by amlager on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @05:15AM (#23973874)

I don't think the major airports would be good enough. What about emergencies where an aircraft has to divert? Can the automated plane land itself without engines, side slip to lose altitude faster and land safely on a non-ILS airport like the Gimli glider?

Will it do the same on a grass strip, which some pilot did without engines in the Houston area?

Can it do a perfect belly landing like a Polish pilot did some years ago?

Can it land in the Hudson?

All of those pilots had massive experience beyond button pushing auto-piloted aircraft.

I think (hope) this is just a typical marketing program which is not actually going to happen.

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Re:Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, ... by fvdessen on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @06:12AM (#23974159)

Maybe the automated plane cannot do all those things, but on the other hand it will not dive itself into a mountain because it is feeling very sad.

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Re:Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, ... by anvert on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @07:13AM (#23974489)

It will happily do that if the pitot tubes are clogged or other sensory input is wrong. Or if there is an MCAS situation.

Moreover, it is easy to find at least 30 successful landings under the above conditions, while the situation you are referring to has about 4 cases, 2 of them contested.

Also, locking the cockpit doors on airliners is stupid in my opinion.

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Re:Airbus' self-flying plane just completed taxi, take-off, ... by stunt on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @09:37AM (#23975608)

Many crashes are also due to pilot mistakes. Or due to some past damages done to the plane by previous pilots.

Aviation industry follows safety in redundancy principles. So on top of all the redundancy they are going to add in a system like this, I assume pilot will be part of the redundancy too.

Perhaps they can remove co-pilot soon. But, it will take a few years to go without any pilot. Even then perhaps they start with cargo airlines. I assume they can use a ground station as an emergency pilot like how military drones work.

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