LJ 1 - Automatic pilot

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 1

Automatic pilot

Lesson goals

• You can describe the future using ‘will’ and ‘going to’.

• You can name two advantages and two disadvantages of pilotless planes

Autopilot

Before we start this lesson, think of what you already know about the use of the autopilot in planes.

 

• What are the advantages of flying with the autopilot?
  
• What are the disadvantages or using the autopilot in planes?
  

-⇾ Write this down at exercise 1.

What are the advantages of flying with the autopilot

What are the disadvantages or using the autopilot in planes?

Answers

Advantages could be:

People make mistakes. The autopilot can analyze big amounts of data in seconds, so it can respond a lot quicker than a human.

It could be cheaper for the airliners to replace a human pilot by a machine (so you would only need one pilot for example, instead of two pilots).

Disadvantage:

The autopilot cannot think out of the box, so if an emergency occurs you will still need a pilot to come up with a solution.

The maintenance of the planes will become more difficult, since you need to make sure that the machine is processing all the data correctly.

00:57

Do a lot of people fail when they try to become a pilot?

01:51

Why does Paul Heaver say that pilots nowadays are working harder than before?

02:39

Why are there fewer pilots now than 30 years ago?

05:57

How many flight hours do you need before you can finish your study to fly a commercial airplane?

07:47

Why do they teach the pilots to fly manually, while in reality they will mostly fly using the autopilot?

08:41

Why is it still important that the pilot is present when he or she performs an auto landing?

10:06

What is the downside of having just one pilot flying the plane?

11:33

Is it still important that the pilot knows how to fly the plane, or is it safer to let the autopilot control the plane entirely?

Exercises 

Read the text and answer the questions:

• Go to exercise 3 and fill in the missing words in the text. Make sure you know the translation of the missing words.
  
• Finish the schedule at exercise 4
  
• Done? Answer the open questions at exercise 5. This is an extra exercise
  

Exercise 3 - Reading 

1. Alter
2. Manually
3. Then
4. Out of control
5. Pulleys
6. Device
7. Advantage
8. First of all
9. Fatigue
10. Velocity
11. Downside
12. Provide

13. Capable

14. Autopilot

15. Permit

16. Rudder

17. Override

18. Pitch

19. Elevators

20. Automatically

21. Adjusting

22. Altitude

23. Corrected

24. Failure

Exercise 4- Schematic

1. Instructions
   
2. AFCS
   
3. Flight Control Surfaces And Propulsion System
   
4. Perturbations (Flight Disturbances)
   
5. Flight path
   
6. Feedback
   

Exercise 5 - Reading

1. First paragraph .. ‘start to become obsolete’. Translate the word obsolete.

Achterhaald, in onbruik raken

2. Are pilotless planes already being tested for safety?

Yes, Boeing is already testing autonomous planes at Moses Lake, Washington.

 

3. Why does Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, think that autonomous planes won’t happen anytime soon?

Because the training and timing around handling emergencies such as engine failure at rotation are not going to be transferable to autopilots and machines.

Exercise 5 - Reading

4. Will there still be pilots, even when planes are flying autonomously?

Yes, the pilots will be flying and managing the aircraft from the ground like the drone pilots already do. 

5. Name two reasons why pilotless planes for commercial airliners might never happen.

Aircraft system malfunction occurs in 20% of the flight, so it isn’t safe. Secondly, computers can’t make decisions as humans during time of emergency. Humans are good at adaptive problem-solving and discovery. 

6. Why does the aviation industry want to invest in inventing pilotless planes and making them perfect?

Pilotless planes will save up to 35 billion a year by eliminating pilots in the cockpit and saving fuel.

Exercise 5 - Reading

7. What it the advantage of having a ground-based operator, supporting a single-pilot flying the plane?

A ground-based operator could remotely oversee the flights of as many as a dozen aircraft at once. This is a lot cheaper. If the pilot needed help because of equipment malfunction or medical emergency, the ground-based aviator could still help fly the plane. 

8. What is the main worry if a ground-based operator could help fly the plane from the ground? 

Cybersecurity. 

9. Name two other projects in which people will be transported by autonomous machines.

Google is testing an electric powered air taxi known as Cora. German startup Lilium is touting a five-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) electric jet. Airbus has multiple short-haul aircraft ventures spinning up, called the CityAirbus. Airbus is also working with Audi on the Pop.Up next driverless car/drone/ air taxi. A Dutch company created a model PAL-V flying car.

Preparations

Start studying your vocabulary list in your reader

p. 123 to 130