[ti:Are We Safer Without Pilots in the Cockpit] [ar:Jonathan Evans] [al:Technology Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Last month, 150 people were killed [00:03.41]when Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps. [00:09.11]Officials say the co-pilot flew the airplane [00:12.91]directly into a mountain on purpose. [00:15.66]Now, experts wonder if possibly removing pilots from planes [00:21.38] would improve airline safety. [00:24.19]Some suggest, at the very least, [00:27.46]letting officials on the ground take control of a plane [00:31.28] if a pilot is acting strangely in the cockpit. [00:34.94]But airplane industry experts warn [00:37.79]that the technology has many problems. [00:41.26]And they say the tragic crash of the Germanwings flight [00:45.77]was an anomaly -- an extremely unlikely event. [00:50.21]Each year, more than three billion people around the world [00:54.28]take about 34 million flights. [00:57.46] Fewer than 10 crashes over the past 30 years [01:01.94]were purposely caused by commercial airline pilots. [01:06.06]Patrick Smith was a commercial airline pilot for 25 years. [01:11.23]He wrote a book called "Cockpit Confidential.'' [01:15.14] He says that even the newest airplanes [01:18.66]would need costly re-engineering of their major systems. [01:23.17] He says there are also concerns over terrorists [01:27.53] taking control of the communications link and hijacking the plane. [01:32.09]The United States military [01:34.55]already has pilots operating drone aircraft remotely. [01:39.11]The pilots are usually based far away from the drones, [01:43.58] even on the other side of the Earth. [01:46.40] But some experts worry about doing the same for passenger aircraft. [01:52.32]Mary Cummings is a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot. [01:56.92]She now works as a professor at Duke University in North Carolina. [02:02.63]In her words, "the real reason a person [02:06.14]wants another human in the cockpit [02:08.25]is because they want to believe there's somebody [02:11.61]in the front who shares their own fate [02:14.22]and thus if anything goes wrong, [02:16.78]they will do everything they can to save their own lives.'' [02:21.45]She and other experts believe cargo planes [02:25.58]will be the first aircraft to fly over the U.S. without pilots. [02:30.08]They say big cargo companies would go from two pilots to one, [02:35.67]with a team of pilots assisting from the ground. [02:38.75]Then, all operations would be done [02:42.59]by flight specialists on the ground. [02:45.20]Airlines would save money on pilot training, [02:48.57]pay and retirement costs. [02:51.07]They also would save on hotel and travel costs. [02:55.09]In addition, ground-based pilots [02:58.90]would be able to have normal eight-hour work days, [03:01.98]even if their plane is in the air for 12 hours. [03:05.79]Ms. Cummings says these changes [03:09.19]could take place in 10 or 15 years. [03:12.79]Pilots are getting further and further removed from their aircraft. [03:17.67]Most aircraft movements other than takeoff [03:21.59]and landing are already automated. [03:24.46]They are done with the help of computers and other machines. [03:28.32]When pilots want to change a flight path, [03:31.94]they program the new directions [03:34.01]into the plane's computer [03:35.65]instead of making the turns themselves. [03:38.66]Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is experimenting [03:43.34]with the idea of a windowless cockpit. [03:45.84]The company is testing a system of cameras [03:49.51]and video monitors that would give pilots a wider, [03:53.04]more-detailed look at their surroundings. [03:56.09]Todd Humphreys teaches aerospace engineering at the University of Texas. [04:02.17]He says it would not be hard [04:04.91]to go one step further and have the pilots [04:08.00]watching those same monitors from a room on the ground. [04:11.93]"Anything you can control with knobs or buttons, [04:15.77]without getting out of your seat, [04:17.81]can be done equally well ¡ª or even better ¡ª on the ground,'' he says. [04:23.53]Professor Humphreys argues that pilots on the ground [04:27.30]would not have to deal with jetlag [04:29.81]or even the dehydration that comes after long flights. [04:33.47]In his words, "pilots do not often face extreme challenges" [04:38.62]and might not be able to deal with an emergency if it happens. [04:42.97]Instead, he suggests having a team of airplane specialists [04:48.05]in the room with all the remote pilots [04:50.15]who could assist with any emergency. [04:52.89]He says this would reduce the number of mistakes by pilots. [04:57.71]But many pilots disagree. [05:00.91]They say that often pilots must make split-second decisions. [05:05.85]In the end, the final decision may come down to passengers. [05:10.95]Are travelers more worried about a pilot killing them [05:14.72]or stepping onto a plane without a pilot? [05:18.64]I'm Jonathan Evans. [05:20.68]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com