If you remember the Air France Airbust 320 that flew into the trees after a demo flight. This plane was touted as being able to land an T/O by itself and the pilots are only there for saftey.....Short item is the plane crashed due to a computer error. I doubt that there were will a full AP in AC in the near future

 

If the autopilot disengages you get a aural and visual warning. Loud enough to wake the dead.

I spoke with a 777 skipper one time and me said that the hardest thing about flying the 777 is staying awake!

 

I'll admit it, I'm a pilot and have slept while in flight. However, I was in the cabin and not at the helm.

 

This is the problem with the glass cockpit. Lulled to sleep by the glow of the AC’s monitors. Ah, for the days of the 727 or 737-200

 

I agree they shouldn't be sleeping at all while flying. Some sort of situation involving a runaway jumbojet is the image that pops into my mind. Runaway anything's are bad let alone loaded planes going around 500MPH!!!!

 

maybe its just the military in me. i had to stay awake for the boring as heck 12 hour watches at night before with absolutly nothing happening or ever happened before, with even another person could still not sleep without fear of getting caught.

i just think when at work, better be awake. if there is a problem with sleepy pilots, then solve it, i much rather have my plane delayed because a pilot says he might be to tired to fly than risk having a drowsy pilot. safety first!

 

Doesn't the Predator fly by itself?

New Hornets take off by themselves too. The pilot has no input until the plane is airborne.

That said, I want a pilot flying my plane to be awake, autopilot or not. At least one of them.

 

Im gunna see if i can get zach back on here to educate us all about auto pilot systems

 

Predator is remote control.

All shots off of carriers require the pilot to do nothing, but they are still "flying" the plane off the deck.

I agree, I really do not want both of them to be asleep, the air is getting to busy.

 

Isn't he a student pilot? He shouldn't even be allowed to touch the a/p yet.

Autopilots are intended to lessen the load and reduce pilot fatigue. The plane I used to have had a great system that would fly several different modes - it would hold a set heading, it could follow the course on the GPS flightplan and make auto corrections, it could hold an altitude or it could climb/descend at a preset rate in feet per minute. It could also do a really nice job at flying instrument approaches. It could also do several things at once. Anyone who has ever flown an ILS approach to minimums with a gusty crosswind knows how tricky that can be - having an a/p makes life much easier. My hands we never far from the controls even with a/p on.

But, that doesn't give the pilot the option of going to sleep any more than cruise control on a vehicle does. The pilot still has a job of monitoring the instruments, the radio and the gauges. You are certainly not at your sharpest when you first wake up and seconds can make a huge difference at any phase of flight.

I flew jump seat across the Atlantic in a KC-10 once and the pilots told me it was all they could do to stay awake.

Come on bf, I've been in the military for almost 24 years and I've known many, many people to fall asleep (or go to sleep) while on watch and so have you I'd bet. It happens - doesn't make it right but human nature is to sleep at night and nobody is immune to getting sleepy at 2:00 in the morning.

 

If we are talking about a comercial aircraft. There is at least one other person in the cockpit. no? I would think the two are not sleeping at the same time. At least I hope not.

 

Oddly enough - it's my own nature to be awake at night. I really don't know why that is.

 

Like I said before, it happens all the time. One at a time, a little "cat nap."
No one will ever admit to it but it goes on.

I would much rather have a semi well rested pilot behind the yoke, especially when the weather at the landing airport is at minimums.

I dont know of any pilot that fully trusts any CAT III (autoland) features.

Airport security and air cargo, mail, etc are way bigger issues facing aviation than this.

 

BF, I hate to be the one to give you this news but safety isn't the priority in aviation anymore. The accountants took care of that.

Can you imagine what would happen to a pilots career if he said," Gee, I'm too tired to fly today."

 

What a controller normally says to pilot on final approach:

"American 735 heavy, check wheels down, wind 030 @ 10, cleared to land runway 3 left."

What a controller says to see if the pilot is awake:

"American 735 heavy, check wheels up, wind 030 @ 55, cleared for scrap and go runway 3 left." (This is usually done after inhaling helium)