A Dog Copilot

I read about how new passenger airplanes are designed to eliminate human error by making everything that a pilot must do, controlled by a computer with non-human sensors and actuators, from starting the engines, take-off, navigation, altitude, landing and arriving at the passenger gate. With the new designed planes, neither the pilot nor co-pilot will be busy or useful as the plane safely flies a few hundred or so passengers to their destination without human intervention and error. In other words there will not be a need for a pilot or co-pilot. Still, I can’t imagine that the public is ready for pilot-less passenger airplanes yet. There will still be a public-relations need to maintain at least one pilot on the plane for travel. He or she will probably spend time walking about in a nice uniform giving confidence to the passengers that all is well.

The problem will be that a pilot is human and has a need for control. That’s what he is trained to do and the need for control guided him into that endevor. I can vision a pilot while sitting in the pilot’s seat, perhaps resting from his strolling about the plane, may be tempted to turn off the automatic controls or somehow override them in order to control the plane,as he is trained. This, of course will expose the plane to human error, a dangerous situation for the passengers and crew.

What I proposed is to employ a vicious guard dog co-pilot. The dog will be trained, perhaps by Homeland Security to protect the passengers and crew. The dog will sit in front of the controls facing the pilot. In the event that the pilot starts to place his hand near any of the controls, the dog will viciously attack the pilot, in the face arms and hands, perhaps leaving permanent scars as a reminder not to touch the controls, thereby saving the passengers and crew of an uncertain future.

I haven’t figured out how to design the co-pilot’s cap for a dog and the design of its fancy uniform.

El dueno