Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Automatic Takeoffs for Passenger Jets?

One of my favorite statements as someone who has soloed in a Cessna 152 is that "any idiot can take off a small plane but only a real pilot can land without crashing."

Yes. It's true that sometimes a pilot on the ground can coach someone to land a plane but this is rare and it is even rarer for that person to land without crashing slightly or injuries.

I have piloted several different types of planes in takeoffs and landings (small planes) of 2 to 4 to 6 passenger planes single engine both high and low wing planes. The first plane I piloted I was 8 years old in Santa Fe, New Mexico but I didn't take off or land the plane just pilot it in the air with my father and an instructor then in 1956. But I did fly my father's best friends Stinson 4 or 5 passenger plane in the 1950s likely in 1958 when I was 10 from Yucca Valley to Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles area. I learned to basically fly sideways in a cross wind which prevented me from crashing into a mountain which was 11,000 feet high because I was at a cruising altitude of 5000 to 7000 feet. I used the pedals to learn to fly basically sideways called then "Crabbing into the wind" so the wind didn't blow me into a mountain and crash as I flew up the Valley between San Gorgonio Mountain and San Jacinto Mountain all the way up past Mt. Baldy into Van Nuys Airport but at 10 I didn't take off or land the plane.

The point being that Artificial intelligence likely could take off a plane and in a big or small plane it might be safer than most humans doing this because the artificial intelligence likely would take into consideration the weight of the plane with all people and goods on board more than most people do. 

One of the biggest causes of the deaths of private pilots in small planes is they fly alone and then one day they load up the family and crash on takeoff. Why?

Because they aren't allowing for the extra weight of people and or luggage when taking off or landing. 

Another problem is landing at airports like Denver or Santa Fe, New Mexico where Denver is 5000 feet and Santa Fe is 7100 feet. The air is much thinner at these altitudes and doesn't support the weight at lower speeds that you need to land at and if you are over loaded in your plane you might crash when you land if you are used to flying at sea level or maybe 2000 to 3000 feet above the ocean.

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