Pilotless airplane

[Gintaras]

Yeah... the pilot's salary is nothing. Per some site I found on Google's first page, the fuel cost for a 737 is almost $5,100 PER HOUR.

Right now their fuel cost is 0.

A380 burns a liter(1 Liter)of gasoline every second = a gallon every 3.75 seconds...
calculate...if you want...
And...take-off isn't hard, but to land an aircraft isn't that easy, especially in bad weather.....

 

[Red Squirrel]

What they could do is make it so if you have your pilot license and have enough hours on that type of plane, you fly free.

If they can get one certified passenger on the plane, then it flies without a pilot and that person is put responsible in case of emergency. It could be an incentive for people who fly a lot to get their pilot license as they'd get to fly for free.

In all realisticness though, I would not think it's a good idea. Look at when something does go wrong, you need the pilot and copilot and even some more crew working on remedying the problem. Most issues with modern planes involve electronic/computer stuff. Imagine that happening to a remote controlled plane.

In theory with enough safeguards and built in emergency land programs etc it could be done, but one small mistake or bad line of code could throw the plane right off course. Ex: accidentally loading Apple maps engine into the trajectory system. Next thing you know it's trying to land upside down in the middle of the Atlantic.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Excellent. Your input is greatly appreciated. Do you pay for the business travel or is that a company expense that you do not have to pay back?

I book the travel, pay with company card, do an expense report and then the company reimburses.

 

[Humpy]

And...take-off isn't hard, but to land an aircraft isn't that easy, especially in bad weather.....

Good thing that modern airliners are capable of self landing when it gets too weathery for the pilot to deal with.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

A Boeing 757 costs $56,000 to operate flying NY to LA round trip. The aircraft has 188 seats meaning the airline would need to charge $297/ticket to "break even" on the flights.
...
Lets say the pilot's (2) operating cost was 10% and were replaced by a remote pilot (3%)

Assuming a pilot and co-pilot, and assuming only one such flight per work day, and a fairly sparse 150 work days per year, your math implies that the two combined earn $840,000 a year.

I don't think so.

The savings you're looking for just aren't there.. certainly not enough to justify the risks.