CASA Media Release - Tuesday, 11 January 2005
Airliners without pilots - new study
A study has been launched into the feasibility of building and operating large commercial aircraft that do not need pilots.
The study is being conducted by the European Union and is known as the Innovative Future Air System.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s flagship publication – Flight Safety Australia magazine – reports the study is being co-ordinated by the French aeronautics agency, Onera.
Flight Safety Australia quotes the manager of the study, Claude Le-Tallec as saying:
“The goal is to do something very different: no pilot, no control, only passengers, operated like an unmanned air vehicle.
“We will see if it’s possible to make this change to this system and then try to create a road map.”
The magazine says apart from technical issues the study will need to consider how passengers will feel about travelling in an airliner without a pilot.
Working together on the study are Alenia, EADS, Thales, French technical consultancy Erdyn, Greece’s University of Patris, Israel Aircraft Industries, the German aerospace centre and Israel’s Techion technology institute.
Other stories in the latest edition of Flight Safety Australia include:
- How two pilots and a flight engineer safely landed an A300 after a missile hit in Iraq
- A review of the official investigations into the Erebus tragedy
- The dangers of carburettor icing
- How repetitive control inputs caused the structural failure of an American Airlines aircraft in 2001.
Media contact
Peter Gibson
mobile 0419 296 446
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