This is your robot captain speaking...

Boeing unveils hi-tech plan for pilotless aeroplanes

IN news unlikely to be welcomed by those with a fear of flying, pilotless planes may no longer be a flight of fancy.

Boeing claims it has moved a step closer to putting selfoperating planes in the skies and will start testing the technology next year.

Although many nervous passengers rely on the soothing voice of the captain to keep them calm, the fact is aeroplanes have become increasingly reliable and pilot error is now the main cause of crashes.

An executive at Boeing also pointed out that some of the technology was already being used in self-flying drones.

Mike Sinnett, the US firm’s vice president of product development, added: ‘ The basic building blocks of the technology clearly are available.’ He said planes can already take off, cruise and land using onboard computers, and the number of pilots on a passenger plane has dropped from three to two.

Mr Sinnett, a pilot himself, will test the technology in a cockpit simulator this summer and ‘fly on an airplane next year with artificial intelligence that makes decisions pilots would make’.

However, turning this into reality will take years.

Self-flying aircraft would need to meet the safety standards of air travel, which had its safest year in 2016, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

The industry would also need to convince regulators, who have as yet no means of certifying such planes.

Airlines hope the idea will deal with a projected need for 1.5million pilots within 20 years as demand for air travel expands. Although the aim is to rule out pilot error and make flying safer, pilotless planes would also have to act quickly in an emergency.

Citing a well-known example, Mr Sinnett said they would need to land as skilfully as Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, whose US Airways plane hit a flock of geese after leaving New York in 2009, knocking out its engines. Mr Sullenberger managed to glide the Airbus A320 to land on the Hudson River, saving all 150 passengers, in a feat turned into the 2016 Tom Hanks film Miracle On The Hudson.

Mr Sinnett said the technology would have to cope with such eventualities, adding: ‘If it can’t, then we can’t go there.’

Pilotless planes could also cut out other mistakes that can endanger passengers. Even though English is the lingua franca of international air traffic control, a recent industry report found a poor grasp among some pilots and air traffic controllers could lead to a disaster.

A review for the Civil Aviation Authority found some pilots operating in British airspace appeared ‘to lack the minimum proficiency in English’.

The problem is compounded by poor English skills among air traffic controllers abroad – particularly in France and Spain – who are meant to speak English to international pilots.

It identified 267 incidents related to miscommunication in UK aviation over 18 months.

In one case, a pilot taxied on a runway at a Midlands airport without clearance, while an midair incident was caused by confusion between ‘left’ and ‘right’ on the approach to Manchester.

‘A lack of proficiency’