VOA慢速英语: 如果驾驶舱没有飞行员的话，我们会不会更安全点呢？
Last month, 150 people were killed when GermanwingsFlight 9525 crashed in the French Alps. Officials saythe co-pilot flew the airplane directly into a mountain onpurpose.
Now, experts wonder if possibly removing pilots fromplanes would improve airline safety. Some suggest, at the very least, letting officials on the ground take controlof a plane if a pilot is acting strangely in the cockpit.
But airplane industry experts warn that the technologyhas many problems. And they say the tragic crash of the Germanwings flight was an anomaly -- anextremely unlikely event. Each year, more than threebillion people around the world take about 34 millionflights. Fewer than 10 crashes over the past 30 yearswere purposely caused by commercial airline pilots.
Patrick Smith was a commercial airline pilot for 25years. He wrote a book called "Cockpit Confidential.'' He says that even the newest airplanes would needcostly re-engineering of their major systems. He saysthere are also concerns over terrorists taking control of the communications link and hijacking the plane.
The United States military already has pilots operatingdrone aircraft remotely. The pilots are usually based far away from thedrones, even on the other side of the Earth. But some experts worry aboutdoing the same for passenger aircraft.2
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French gendarmes, seen in this picture made available to the press by the French Interior Ministry April 1, 2015, work near debris from wreckage showing a German flag at the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes. |
Mary Cummings is a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot. She now works as aprofessor at Duke University in North Carolina. In her words, “the real reasona person wants another human in the cockpit is because they want to believethere's somebody in the front who shares their own fate and thus if anythinggoes wrong, they will do everything they can to save their own lives.''
She and other experts believe cargo planes will be the first aircraft to fly overthe U.S. without pilots. They say big cargo companies would go from twopilots to one, with a team of pilots assisting from the ground. Then, alloperations would be done by flight specialists on the ground.
Airlines would save money on pilot training, pay and retirement costs. Theyalso would save on hotel and travel costs. In addition, ground-based pilotswould be able to have normal eight-hour work days, even if their plane is in the air for 12 hours. Ms. Cummings says these changes could take place in 10 or 15 years.
Pilots are getting further and further removed from their aircraft. Most aircraftmovements other than takeoff and landing are already automated. They aredone with the help of computers and other machines. When pilots want tochange a flight path, they program the new directions into the plane'scomputer instead of making the turns themselves.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is experimenting with the idea of a windowlesscockpit. The company is testing a system of cameras and video monitors thatwould give pilots a wider, more-detailed look at their surroundings.
Todd Humphreys teaches aerospace engineering at the University of Texas. He says it would not be hard to go one step further and have the pilotswatching those same monitors from a room on the ground.
"Anything you can control with knobs or buttons, without getting out of yourseat, can be done equally well — or even better — on the ground,'' he says.
Professor Humphreys argues that pilots on the ground would not have to dealwith jetlag or even the dehydration that comes after long flights.
In his words, “pilots do not often face extreme challenges” and might not beable to deal with an emergency if it happens. Instead, he suggests having ateam of airplane specialists in the room with all the remote pilots who couldassist with any emergency. He says this would reduce the number ofmistakes by pilots.
But many pilots disagree. They say that often pilots must make split-seconddecisions.
In the end, the final decision may come down to passengers. Are travelersmore worried about a pilot killing them or stepping onto a plane without a pilot?
I’m Jonathan Evans.
This report was based on a story from the Associated Press. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. The editor was George Grow.
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Words in this Story
automate – v. to run or operate something such as a factory or system byusing machines or computers instead of people to do the work
cockpit – n. the area in a boat, airplane, etc., where the pilot or driver sits
jetlag – n. a tired and unpleasant feeling that you sometimes get when youtravel by airplane to a place that is far away
split-second – adj. done very quickly
remote(ly) – adj. far away from; out-of-the-way
dehydration – n. the process of using or losing more fluids than you take in;excessive loss of body water
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