Boeing studies pilotless
planes as it ponders next jetliner
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[June 08, 2017]
By Alwyn Scott
SEATTLE
(Reuters) - Boeing Co is looking ahead to a brave new world where
jetliners fly without pilots and aims to test some of the technology
next year, the world's biggest plane maker said in a briefing ahead of
the Paris Airshow.
The idea may seem far-fetched but with self-flying drones available for
less than $1,000, "the basic building blocks of the technology clearly
are available," said Mike Sinnett, Boeing's vice president of product
development.
Jetliners can already take off, cruise and land using their onboard
flight computers and the number of pilots on a standard passenger plane
has dropped to two from three over the years.
Sinnett, a pilot himself, plans to test the technology in a cockpit
simulator this summer and "fly on an airplane next year some artificial
intelligence that makes decisions that pilots would make", he said.
Self-flying aircraft would need to meet the safety standards of air
travel, which had its safest year in 2016, according to the Aviation
Safety Network. They would also need to convince regulators who don't
yet know how to certify such planes.
"I have no idea how we're going to do that," Sinnett said. "But we're
studying it right now and we're developing those algorithms."
Airlines are among those backing the idea, in part to deal with a
projected need for 1.5 million pilots over the next 20 years as global
demand for air travel continues to grow.
But a self-flying plane would need to be able land safely as Captain
Chesley Sullenberger did in the "Miracle on the Hudson," Sinnett said.
"If it can't, then we can't go there."
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Kevin McAllister, chief executive of Boeing's jetliner business, is
seen at a briefing in Renton, Washington, June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Alwyn
Scott
A U.S. Airways plane hit a flock of geese shortly after taking off from
New York in 2009 knocking out its engines but Sullenberger managed to
glide the Airbus A320 to a safe landing on the Hudson River, saving all
150 passengers on board.
Boeing is also inching closer to creating its next new aircraft to plug
a gap in its product line between its best-selling narrow-bodied 737 and
its larger 787 Dreamliner. It aims to bring the new jet to customers
around 2025.
After in-depth talks with nearly 60 customers it concluded that current
wide-body planes have too much range for most of the routes narrow-body
planes fly, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Kevin McAllister
said in a separate briefing.
"This is a market that cannot be served by narrow-bodies - not by ours
or our competitors'" he said, referring to rival Airbus. "It can be
served by wide-bodies, the question is can it be more efficiently served
by a targeted airplane?"
(Editing by David Clarke)
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