Ryanair to Employ Robots to Fly their Planes...

While we recently heard about Irish Low Cost Carrier; Ryanair, cancelling flights due to lack of pilots, over in the USA they have been experimenting using a robot to replace at least one pilot. Rumour says that Ryanair chief, Michael O’Leary has met with Aurora Flight Sciences and Boeing to discuss ‘employing’ their robots on the flight deck of their B737s. This will allow Ryanair to eliminate half of his pilot force and replace them with robots, translating into lower fares for the passengers. Robots make great pilots: they can fly 24/7, don’t need to sleep, take a holiday, don’t want a pay rise and they don’t complain…

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and aeronautics research company Aurora Flight Sciences has gotten one step closer to, courtesy of the latest breakthrough from its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) technology.

In May 2017, DARPA and Aurora proudly announced that their ALIAS robotic arm has managed to successfully fly and land a Boeing 737. Well, in a simulation involving a real cockpit, at least.

The breakthrough event took place at U.S. Department of Transportation’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It represented the biggest challenge yet for ALIAS, which has previously carried out similar flying demos on smaller aircraft such as the single-engine Cessna Caravan, capable of transporting 14 passengers at a time.

Jessica Duda, Humans and Autonomy Group Lead at Aurora Flight Sciences, explained, “Aurora has been developing the ALIAS automation technologies for over two years. Installing the system into the Boeing 737 provided us an opportunity to extend the capabilities of the robotic system to interact directly with an existing highly capable autopilot and auto-land system.”

While the Boeing 737 has long had an autopilot system, allowing for the plane’s trajectory to be controlled without requiring constant “hands-on” control from the pilot, Duda explained that ALIAS is something else entirely. “ALIAS as a whole is much more capable than an autopilot, as it includes procedures tracking and monitoring, contingency identification and response, and intelligent interaction with the onboard pilot,” she said.

With autonomous drones already delivering packages to people’s homes, a future filled with robot-controlled planes is clearly on the horizon. I do think it will take a while for robots to replace both pilots on the flight deck but I do see the day where we see a flight crew being made-up of one human and one robot.

Ryanair will probably be the first airline to fit their cockpits with their own version of R2D2 and turn their Captains into Luke Skywalkers’. Will the passengers trust getting on a plane with one human and one robot at the controls?

If we look at history, I am sure many were reluctant to get into an elevator when they first came out. It will probably take a new generation to trust getting into a flying machine, that will carry them from one side of the globe to the other, piloted by robots.

What I do know, is that it is only a matter of time and the clock is ticking now...

Fabrizio Poli is an independant aviation consultant specialized in aircraft sales. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent for luxury magazine, Most Fabullous Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV . Fabrizio's latest book "Health4Flyers", the first natural-health book for pilots, flights attendants and frequent flyers is now available worldwide.