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Thread: New company to begin testing of pilotless cargo aircraft.

  1. #1

    Exclamation New company to begin testing of pilotless cargo aircraft.

    Who was it that told me this would never happen...Danke? Collins?



    A Startup’s Plan To Cut Air Freight Costs In Half With 777-Size Drones

    https://www.fastcompany.com/3069053/...77-size-drones

    In 2020, Natilus’s huge unmanned planes could carry 200,000 pounds of goods across the world. But first, a 30-foot prototype must pass test runs.

    Commercial passenger jets fly at an altitude of around 30,000 feet or higher. Imagine sitting in a window seat of one of those giant aluminum tubes a few years from now as it makes its way across the Pacific Ocean. Picture looking down about 10,000 feet below. You just might see what one startup thinks could be the future of international cargo transport.

    The idea is simple: Shipping by air is fast, but expensive. Boat is much cheaper, but very slow. So why not send all those boxes and packages on an un-piloted, amphibious Boeing 777-sized drone that can fly point to point and eventually drop off as much as 200,000 pounds of cargo at a seaside port? It would carry that cargo at about half the cost of normal air freight thanks to a more efficient use of fuel and the lack of an expensive crew.

    That’s the thinking behind Natilus, a Richmond, California-based startup that this summer plans on flying FAA-approved tests of a 30-foot prototype that’s about the size and weight of a military Predator drone. The flight will mark the first significant step toward upending the global freight forwarding industry. Eventually, CEO Aleksey Matyushev says, the company hopes to fly the prototype on 30-hour test runs, carrying up to 700 pounds of cargo, between Los Angeles and Hawaii.
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    You beat me to it AF.

    I've been saying this for years.

    Most people responded with a slackjaw look.

    Looks like Collins is going the way of the buggy whip.

  4. #3
    It has been technologically possible for a while now, but not a good idea. Also, no regulatory agency on Earth will allow it to be in service any time soon.


    We will however I believe in the next 10 years start to see many cargo ops move down to single pilot with automation filling the role of the co-pilot. We may or may not see it for large passenger airliners in my lifetime. But it will not be fully autonomous with no human interaction anytime in the forseeable future. Even though the technology is there, it is unwise to have no failsafes.
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  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Collins View Post
    Even though the technology is there, it is unwise to have no failsafes.
    This. Its much safer for a human to fly a plane than a computer. Because you cant program to handle all the different possible scenarios that could happen, like a red bull stunt skydriver carrying a box of explosives and didnt plan his jump correctly and ended up hitting the plane with his box of explosives sending the plane into an uncontrolled dive in a populated city and thousands would die.

    Or a hacker terrorist with crazy good hacking skills jumps off a different plane and onto the 777 cargo drone and plugs into the drone using an ethernet cable to get on its local network and initiates his hacking script and then flies the cargo drone into a building and thousands die.

    There's are things you can't really program a computer to handle, there's just too many things that could happen in the air.
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  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTexan View Post
    Or a hacker terrorist with crazy good hacking skills jumps off a different plane and onto the 777 cargo drone and plugs into the drone using an ethernet cable to get on its local network and initiates his hacking script and then flies the cargo drone into a building and thousands die.
    lol

  7. #6
    It's much safer with real pilots like Captain Sum Ting Wong and Co-Pilot We Tu Lo.

    Hold on, they were the ones that didn't know how to land when they couldn't use autopilot.
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  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Collins View Post
    Also, no regulatory agency on Earth will allow it to be in service any time soon.
    LOL

    The regulatory state has been falling all over itself to fast track this $#@!, from cars to trucks to planes and trains.

    If there is one thing the regulators and control freaks hate above all else, it is the "human element" that cannot be accounted for.

    They throttle us with rules and checklists, pre digest tasks down to point where you'd have to search the insane asylums to find someone to $#@! it up, put us under total surveillance...and it's still not enough, from the perspective of a zero tolerance/zero incidents risk manager/regulator.

    Twenty years...that's about the max...maybe less.
    Last edited by Anti Federalist; 03-28-2017 at 08:17 AM.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    It's much safer with real pilots like Captain Sum Ting Wong and Co-Pilot We Tu Lo.

    Hold on, they were the ones that didn't know how to land when they couldn't use autopilot.
    Or Danke.

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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Collins View Post
    It has been technologically possible for a while now, but not a good idea. Also, no regulatory agency on Earth will allow it to be in service any time soon.


    We will however I believe in the next 10 years start to see many cargo ops move down to single pilot with automation filling the role of the co-pilot. We may or may not see it for large passenger airliners in my lifetime. But it will not be fully autonomous with no human interaction anytime in the forseeable future. Even though the technology is there, it is unwise to have no failsafes.
    Many years ago, I operated a turboprop with an electrical system that was powered by three busses. The were titled the essential bus, the main bus, and the non-essential bus.

    The essential bus powered most of the captain's instruments, the main bus powered a lot of the systems, and the non-essential bus powered the copilot's instruments.

    It was humorously pointed out that the copilots rode the non-essential bus to work.

    Collins will certainly be riding the non-essential bus to work.
    Last edited by sparebulb; 03-28-2017 at 08:43 AM.

  12. #10
    May you live in interesting times.

    My god what kind of world will my children know when they are my age?
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  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by jllundqu View Post
    ........what kind of world will my children know when they are my age?
    Certainly, they will be led to believe that Dad was a racist, sexist, zenophobe, homophobe, spousal abuser, and probably a sex offender.

    Oh, and they won't be allowed to drive a car.

  14. #12
    Didn't they have these on 9/11?
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  15. #13
    so. hijacking goods will become much easier
    Disclaimer: any post made after midnight and before 8AM is made before the coffee dip stick has come up to optomim level - expect some level of silliness,

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  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by sparebulb View Post
    Certainly, they will be led to believe that Dad was a racist, sexist, zenophobe, homophobe, spousal abuser, and probably a sex offender.

    Oh, and they won't be allowed to drive a car.
    Nope. My kids are homeschooled. They will believe that Dad is a badass warrior for liberty, that we get our rights as individuals, and that self-reliance, hard work, and family are the most important things in life.

    BOOM!
    There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
    -Major General Smedley Butler, USMC,
    Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Winner
    Author of, War is a Racket!

    It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
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  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTexan View Post
    This. Its much safer for a human to fly a plane than a computer.
    Actually it's much safer to have a computer fly the plane, but have a human on standby in case the computer has a problem or some sort of unforseen circumstance comes into play which the computer cannot account for.
    __________________________________________________ ________________
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  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Collins View Post
    Actually it's much safer to have a computer fly the plane, but have a human on standby in case the computer has a problem or some sort of unforseen circumstance comes into play which the computer cannot account for.
    Right, like a Russian hacker hijacker.
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Collins View Post
    Actually it's much safer to have a computer fly the plane.......
    Likely true for you.
    Last edited by sparebulb; 03-28-2017 at 08:49 PM.

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    It's much safer with real pilots like Captain Sum Ting Wong and Co-Pilot We Tu Lo.

    Hold on, they were the ones that didn't know how to land when they couldn't use autopilot.
    It was a sick joke...
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  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by ChristianAnarchist View Post
    It was a sick joke...
    Well, Ho Lee Fuk!
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