Do aeroplanes really need pilots?

I was somewhat disappointed to learn recently that most commercial aircraft take-off, fly, and land entirely on auto-pilot.

So what's the point of having a piot, co-pilot, and flight engineer, if it can all be controlled from the ground, and by computer?

You are absoultly correct except for the flight eng posit that doens't exist anymore. TCAS will keep the tin apart in the air and auto pilot will take the plane from point A to B, a US drone flew all by its self from Austrailia to the US. Also if you look at the work being done on UAVs it would be easy enough to put some computer power on the plane to follow the route specified to within metres using GPS and have a pilot on the ground actually taxi the bird to the end of the runway and turn it loose. The same is true for arrivals the plane could establish a data link with a pilot on the ground who would complete the final approach, landing and taxi to the gate. The technology and systems are there right now but only the military are using it this is a type of tech that is going to take a long time comming to the civilian world.

My answer as to why we need pilots as a former pilot my selfy computers don't look good in the snazzy uniforms. The pilots are only there because of the tech sometimes it doesn't work correctly or the weather is too bad for the automation and we actually have to fly the beasties

i think so they still need pilots for some emergencies took place inside the aircraft.

you only need to look at what happened the other week. All the electrical computer equipment failed and if it hadn't been for the skill of the pilot and the co-pilot in bringing the plane into land i'm sure the news story would have been very different.

But can a computer grope its air hostesses?

Yes it could, but you you fly in a plane with no pilot??

I know, this is just in case there is a malfunction with the auto-pilot.

Pilots are needed in the aeroplane because terrorists, if they can afford it, can also get computers and hi-tec equipment to distrupt their signals and take control of the aeroplane.

who else would the trolly dollys show there **** to

have you ever watched the "air crash investigation" programmes on the national geographic channel?

i suggest you watch one or two, and that will answer your question bud.

They need pilots because the air traffic control system in the USA sucks. And in many nations, it is even worse!

As yet, they do not have a camera system or computer that can watch in all directions for oncoming aircraft.

And a key point, a pilot IN the plane is going to be a lot more careful than a pilot safe on the ground flying it by remote control.

Do pilots need airplanes?

Weather the Captain is at the helm, laying down an automated routine, or asleep down below; the aeroplane has a pilot and this pilot uses the aeroplane for it's designed purpose or as needed.

Just consider the crash at Heathrow recently. Had it nor been for the pilot -well - could a computer have coped with that emergency? Just remember the title of one of the first books about computers, Isaac Azimov called it "Machines Which Seem to Think", Note the word SEEMED. One has to ask, can a computer be programmed for EVERY eventuality?

So what happens when the GPS crashes or weather means the fixes are inaccurate?

Not to mention all the mechanical things that can go wrong. Plus bird strikes.

Need I list more?