If you've ever flown in a plane,
there's a 56% chance your pilot
has fallen asleep during your flight.
Do you think that's scary?
Well, out of that 56% chance,
there's a 29% chance one of those pilots
has woken up to find their co-pilot also asleep.
I know it's insane to think that
at an altitude of 30,000 feet,
your pilot is sleeping instead of navigating.
But it makes sense once you learn
that most of their job is done by autopilot.
According to a survey of Airbus and Boeing pilots,
they only manually fly about
three to six minutes per flight.
The rest is just autopilot.
But why do we trust this century old technology so much?
How is it evolving?
And most importantly, how does it work?
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Most of the time,
when you hear about autonomous tech,
it's in self driving cars.
But planes have technically had autopilot since 1914.
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Lawrence Sperry was one of the first licensed pilots
in the US to test autopilot.
On June 18th 1914, Sperry astonished a crowd of onlookers
by holding his hands over his head
while flying a Curtiss C-2 biplane.
This plane was equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer,
which maintains stability and control.
It looked a little bit something like this.
Fun fact, Sperry was not only the inventor of autopilot,
but he's also credited as the founding member
of the Mile High Club.
Google it.
(upbeat music)
Autopilot has since evolved significantly,
and has been used over the years
to focus on more important tasks such as navigation,
or dropping bombs by hand.
Nowadays, autopilot is mostly used as a relief mechanism
for pilots who sit back from the controls
during long stretches at cruising altitude.
But what is this tech look like?
(upbeat music)
At its very core, autopilot technology
is just a computer system that relies on sensors
around the aircraft to pick up information
like speed, altitude and turbulence.
That data is then ingested back into the mainframe,
so it can make necessary flight course changes.
Autopilot can also analyze
flight routes, location and navigation
using the same GPS technology that's on your cell phone.
So it can basically do almost anything a pilot can do.
Emphasis on almost.
Autopilot still can't fully take off or land planes.
Although there are some newer aircraft models
that have autopilot systems that can land the plane,
when there's very low visibility.
That's just about 1% of landings.
The rest along with 100% of takeoffs,
have to be done manually.
And don't get me wrong,
I don't want to discredit pilots.
Don't think they're just sitting around
checking their Instagram during your flight.
Although some have admitted to falling asleep.
These men and women have to actually
keep their hands and eyes on the controls
in case of an emergency.
Autopilot can disengage itself
in the event of extreme turbulence,
at which point the pilot has to manually fly the plane.
In a way, autopilot is just like a car's cruise control,
it can take over when you need it to,
but you still have to pay attention
to what the car is doing and where it's going.
So that's where autopilot tech is right now.
But where is it heading?
Many airlines are starting to favor
autonomous commercial flights,
because they claim autopilot is safer than humans.
And while that's true, we shouldn't fully rely on autopilot.
In the past decade,
there have been a few reported plane crashes
in which human pilots have had to take control.
Take Captain Sullenberger's incredible landing
in the Hudson River, for example,
which got turned into a movie, Sully,
starring America's sweetheart Tom Hanks.
You should watch it.
These types of scenarios are reminders that we need humans
supervising any sort of autonomous technology.
Then again, there's a pilot shortage in the industry,
and some experts argue that autopilot
can help fill that void.
In the next 20 years,
the flight industry needs more than 600,000 pilots,
but the Federal Aviation Administration
reported around 609,000 active certified pilots in 2017.
So on paper, it sounds like we're there,
but that number just keeps going down.
And while airlines might be on board
with the idea of fully autonomous flights,
the public might not be.
Me, I'm not on board with that idea.
I'd like to know that a human pilot
could be a backup plan to saving my life.
Fearing flying is a very common thing.
In fact, one in three Americans are anxious of flying.
It's all really about risk perception.
Because unlike driving,
which is one of the deadliest methods of transportation,
people don't feel they're in control.
And that's true.
You think your life is in the hands of the pilots.
Well, your life is really in the hands of the autopilot.
But we shouldn't be afraid of flying.
There's a one in 11,000,000 chance
of being involved in an airplane accident.
And that's with the autonomous tech we currently have.
So maybe we should be a bit more comfortable and trusting
of the evolution of this tech.
Besides, we won't see any fully
autonomous flights in the immediate future.
The tech still has to be fully developed,
and then it'll take a while before authorities
allow airlines to fully remove human pilots from flights.
And if we see any fully autonomous flights
in the next five years,
they will be cargo flights without any passengers.
(relaxing music)
So for now, if you don't trust this tech,
just drink some wine,
put on your noise canceling headphones
or do whatever you need to do
when you board your next flight
to forget who's really flying the plane.
Hey y'all, thank you so much for watching Contextual.
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