Reliable Robotics successfully completed the flight of a Cessna 208B Caravan, with no pilot on board, on Nov. 21, 2023.
A remote pilot supervised the uncrewed aircraft flying near Hollister, California, from Reliable’s control center 50 miles away, according to officials with the Mountain View, California-based company.
A video posted to YouTube allows viewers to go into the cockpit and scroll around it for a 360° experience, company officials noted.
The Reliable autonomous flight system enables the aircraft to be remotely operated by a pilot on the ground. According to company officials, this improves safety by fully automating the aircraft through all phases of operation, including taxi, takeoff, and landing.
“Reliable’s system is aircraft agnostic and utilizes multiple layers of redundancy and advanced navigation technology to achieve the levels of integrity and reliability necessary for uncrewed flight,” company officials said. “The system will prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I), which account for the majority of fatal aviation accidents.”
The FAA formally accepted the certification plan for Reliable’s autonomous flight system in June 2023. The certification plan leverages existing regulations for normal and transport category aircraft, and does not require any special conditions or exemptions, company officials added.
No technical breakthrough. Just another drone. I will start paying attention when the principals at Reliable Robotics and FAA management load their families for a test flight, without a pilot on board.
I am a retired 747 capt with 44 years of flying for a living and I will be the first one to get in an unmanned airplane that has been through fully certified the electronic that we have today are way ahead of what we had in the 80’s
I remember the first 747400 that I saw it was very “stars war “ like, little did I know that a few years later I will be flying them
We trusted the electronics then and with time we will move on too
I love the picture showing the headset on top of the right seat :). Maybe tied to the seat belt (hard to see) but still …..
I would also not fly in an airplane with nobody up front. And I doubt humanity will accept something like that (maybe in a couple of generations when people are used to it, feel sorry for them). I assume the intended market for something like this is to fly stuff around, not people.
Sounds like the future of commercial flight. We know our government flies remote-controlled drones around the world every day.
It will likely have to prove its reliability with freight before it’s introduced to passenger travel. At least with me…
“Just a fleeting concept…”, said the blacksmith about the horseless carriage. 🙂
What’s the point? I recall similar glowing reports when the first Teslas were allowed to drive autonomously, until one tried going under a semi’s trailer. That did not end well for the naive “driver” inside, trusting his life to a piece of software. Garbage in, garbage out. I take a well-trained and experience guy up front on the controls any day.