Is there a pilot on the plane? Yes, but perhaps more necessarily only one. And this is precisely what poses a problem for SNPL. The main union of pilots in France warned on Tuesday of the risks posed by the use of artificial intelligence for the profession and for passengers. Pilots are particularly concerned about the inability for AI to manage the unpredictable.
Autonomous aircraft tests
For several years now, aircraft manufacturers, in particular Airbus, have been introducing increasingly powerful autonomous computing systems on board aircraft. Very recently, for example, we have seen the DRAGONFLY program led by Airbus appear.
It was just a test, but the concept is challenging: an aircraft capable of taking control in the event of pilot discomfort, diverting in the event of a weather problem, communicating with air traffic control, landing alone and reaching its point of parking. in complete autonomy. This is what makes pilots break out in a cold sweat.
Nowadays, there are always two pilots on board the planes, they check each other by crossing all the procedures, which is called cross-checking. Also, during long-haul flights, one person gets some rest while the other is at the controls.
Everything is duplicated in the planes, why not the pilots?
However, SNPL wonders, would an AI be able to land a plane in the Hudson River like we saw a few years ago? Will passengers agree to board a plane for 8 hours of flight with a single pilot and a computer co-pilot?
To this last question, the SNPL answers “no” based on a survey that Odoxa commissioned for the occasion. Result: more than 80% of the French people surveyed reserve to get on a plane with a single pilot and an AI to assist them.
For the SNPL, the rise in power of these artificial intelligences and the “single pilot operation” is just a matter of business. Money at the expense of security.
In aviation, the union concludes, the key word is redundancy, that is, the duplication of components: several engines, several generators, several duplicate computers. So why not pilots?
Source: BFM TV
