By 2030, commercial passengers will routinely fly in pilotlessplanes.

Robert M. Gary wrote:
Certainly techonology isn't a barrier, a lot can be done in 25 years.
The real question is whether or not pax will pay to ride in such a
device. I suspect they would

-Robert

Hopefully, Airbus fixes their nose-gear issue by then. And 380's
maintain cabin pressu

"Joseph Mangan, 41, is a whistle-blower. As a result he and his family
find themselves in a foreign country with unfamiliar laws, fighting a
legal battle that has left them almost penniless.

A year ago, Mangan told European aviation authorities that he believed
there were problems with a computer chip on the Airbus A380, the
biggest and costliest commercial airliner ever built. The A380 is a
double-decked engineering marvel that will carry as many as 800
passengers - double the capacity of Boeing Co.'s 747. It is expected
to enter airline service next year.

Mangan alleges that flaws in a microprocessor could cause the valves
that maintain cabin pressure on the A380 to accidentally open during
flight, allowing air to leak out so rapidly that everyone aboard could
lose consciousness within seconds.
....
To discuss his case with The Times, Mangan took a five-hour train ride
to Munich, Germany, where the gag order doesn't apply. "I don't want to
destroy TTTech," he said. "But I still get nightmares of people dying.
I just can't let that happen."

To help pay living expenses and legal fees, Mangan sold his house in
Kansas. With only about $300 left in his bank account, Mangan missed a
Sept. 8 deadline to pay his $185,000 fine and faces up to a year in
jail. Next month he's likely to be called before a judge on his
criminal case.

The family expected to be evicted this month from their apartment, but
their church in Vienna took up a collection to pay their rent.

At the moment, Mangan is hiding out at a church member's home because
he fears he could be arrested at any time.
....The Mangans live day to day, not sure what will come next. If they
can't pay their rent, they hope to return to the U.S. to live with
Diana's parents in Ohio, although they have maxed out their credit card
and can't afford plane tickets.

Mangan is getting ready to file for personal bankruptcy.

TTTech has offered to drop its legal action against Mangan, court
records show, and pay him three months of severance, if he retracts his
statements. But Mangan has refused.

Mangan said he was looking for a new job. He has contacted dozens of
aerospace firms in the U.S. and Europe, but none have returned his
calls. "Nobody wants to touch me," he said."

If it ain't Boeing, I ain't Going...JG

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 19:01:31 -0700, Bob Fry
wrote:

Not my statement. See
http://www.longbets.org/4

What sayeth the group wisdom? I think eventually there will be
pilotless aircraft, the question is when.

Can't really say anything except it will give the airline pilots
something else to bitch about while they're home collecting their
checks!

Bob Fry wrote:
Not my statement. See
http://www.longbets.org/4

What sayeth the group wisdom? I think eventually there will be
pilotless aircraft, the question is when.

Hmmph. I was told in 1980 that by the year 2000 everybody would have
flying cars and personal rocket belts would be practical. Everything
would be run with nuclear power and we would have permanent colonies on
the moon and Mars. Disease and starvation would be a thing of the past.
Men would dress in tight jumpsuits and women in short skirts and
everyone would wear little space emblems. We would all eat food with
the consistency of paste. Robots would be in every household.

OTOH, I was also told that we would now be living in post-apocalyptic
society barely surviving a radioactive, half frozen world. Every nation
would be under totalitarian rule and war would be a permanent state of
affairs, as men dressed in battle armor fought it out with laser cannon
and robot tanks.

Maybe all those things will happen someday. Maybe it is all a question
of when. But given the track record of people being able to predict
things 25 years into the future, I am not going to hold my breath
waiting for pilotless airplanes.

Given the recent crash near Athens, Greece, and the Payne Stewart LearJet
incident... I'd say we have a long ways to go.


"Bob Fry" wrote in message
...
Not my statement. See
http://www.longbets.org/4

What sayeth the group wisdom? I think eventually there will be
pilotless aircraft, the question is when.

Bob Fry wrote:
Not my statement. See
http://www.longbets.org/4

What sayeth the group wisdom? I think eventually there will be
pilotless aircraft, the question is when.

Does anyone know when it was that Dr. Charles Stark Draper, the inventor
of inertial navigation, flew coast to coast on a "computer-controlled"
airplane? I believe it was in the '50s.