Given the direction that computerization, remote control, etc are going in many fields not just aviation. Model airplane hobbyists have been doing amazing things with remote control for years. Then the Predator drones have been very successful in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remote Controlled fighter/bomber. You don't have to worry about g-forces effects on the pilot, you don't have to provide him oxygen at high altitudes, you don't have to protect him in the cockpit from bullets. The craft can be lighter, faster, more manuverable. And the kids who will be flying them have been training on computer game consoles all their lives. This won't be a big deal for them to learn to fly one of these things. Remote Control
I wonder if we will still be driving our own cars in 50 years or will they be robotic! To Infinity and Beyond!!
I do foresee advances in the realm of electronic systems for cars where they will have front, rear , and side sensors that will allow for cruise control and GPS guidance to work together so that you can program a route and go to sleep while your car takes you cross country. That is not too far fetched right now.
At one time the theory was that a strip would be imbedded in the road that would guide the car, but clearly that would be a monumental and expensive undertaking. Utilization of GPS combined with other sensors would no doubt be a way to get to autopilot for a car. I wonder if that will happen in my lifetime?
Unless you're planning on checking out in the next 15 years, I would bet you will see it. We already have cars that parallel park themselves.
My brother has one of those Lexus that will parallel park themselves. He's never used it, and the salesman tells him in reality nobody uses it...at least not in Austin Tx.
Ahhh only if I were young again and had the time to be the deviant I once was I would look forward to such a strip embedded in the road so I could dig it up or use a magnet to jack with unsuspecting tourist.... :twisted: Technology holds so many new opportunities... RC