Are jet fighter pilots becoming redundant? Everywhere i look these days, drones seem to be the hot chick. Drones have been used more and more extensively and for very good reasons. Hence my question? Are jet fighter pilots becoming redundant? We still need them now, but what about the future ? We see glimpses of the future every day, in the mountains of Afghanistan, where drones are actually performing bombing and attack missions. These were tasks reserved for Aces fighter pilots.
And there is actually a very good case to promote the use of drones. 1/ they are cheaper to build than jet fighters, with less testing required, less materials used, less space on the carrier taken… they are “cheap” to build and operate, and we can stock loads on a carrier. 2/ there is no loss of life in case the plane crashes. The pilot, seating comfortably either in the base or carrier nearby, or at Langley, flies the drone remotely. He has a TV screen of various views in flight, including terrain analysis and target recognition. If all goes very bad, he is as safe as his account in his office. 3/ Drones will be performers. Drones are today accomplishing standard military missions including recon and bombing. The future will be drones capable of flying like jet fighters, but only faster – scram jet – and capable of sustaining massive G force.
Fighter pilots in this future are the weakest link. They can analyze what is happening at a certain speed until the speed becomes too fast for their brain to compute. They then need a computer to do that for them. Then the pilot becomes useless. The same applies with G Force. Pilots can sustain up to 11G for just a few seconds. Most pilots will pass out at 9Gs, and some will simply die over that level. The crazies doing the Red Bull Air Race sustain up to 10 and 11G, but for only a few seconds. But if aircrafts are capable of going faster and turning quicker, then G force will be a key issue too.
jet fighter ride
Most people will argue that a pilot, a human, is required to analyze and feel the situation. Others argue that the human in question is there, only seating comfortably thousands of miles away, but with a complete understanding of the situation. So it is over for fighter pilots ? In 50 years, will we truly need fighter pilots ? I personally think that we will. Because if we have aircrafts that are able to reach such high speed that the human brain becomes useless in the controls, this also means that there is a risk of losing control to computers and having pre-defined choices. In the cockpit – or control room – things will happen too fast for the pilot for him to fully have a grasp of reality.
The flight will be on “auto pilot”, at least when going super fast. This means that if something goes wrong, the pilot may not necessarily have the freedom to decide. Just as two planes on a collision course – one is drawn upwards, the other downwards. The pilot has no control. And I don’t think people are ready to lose their freedom of choice, especially with a military machine. What do you think ? Tell us on our Facebook page.
