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20th Jun 2017

Planes without pilots – The future of flying is on its way

Who would hop on board the inaugural flight?

Darragh Berry

Boeing is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells planes, rotorcraft, rockets, and satellites worldwide and they are now ready to change the flying game forever.

Why does the word Boeing sound familiar? You would have probably picked it up while you were making your way to America or somewhere in Europe on a Boeing 747 and the like.

The company announced at the Paris Air Show that they will begin a project which tests autonomous technology in the hope of creating pilotless jetliners.

Boeing hope to begin the testing for these new jetliners in the next year and although it will push for pilotless journeys, they will still be able to rely on some human assistance if needed.

Clip via Vocativ

How does it work? The planes will have on-board flight computers which will be programmed to provide the jetliner with some self-flying capabilities.

These self-flying capabilities include allowing the jetliner to take off by itself, cruise thousands of feet above the ground and land which the company hope will need as minimal human interaction as possible.

The reason self-piloting technology has come to the forefront now is because the company feel it will help meet the increasing demand for pilots.

Boeing claim that a projected 1.5 million pilots will be needed over the next two decades to meet the growing demand for air travel.