the end of the human fighter pilot and what it means for the rest of us

In August, groups that had built fighter jet profiles (how exactly to phrase that is problematic) went up against a human fighter pilot—in a simulator, of course. The question wasn’t whether the computers would someday take over from us what we pilots think of as our irreplaceable spot in the universe of flight, but rather when they would. The answer? Soon. The trials pitted a top Air Force F-16 fighter pilot against artificial intelligence (AI) developed by the winner of a competition to get to the finals, Heron, a small company that’s women- and minority-owned. In the battle, which, to be fair was an old-school one-on-one dogfight between AI and USAF, the computers beat the meat-based pilot five straight times. And remember that in real life, you’re out after you get…

sole survivors

Fatalities In Crash Of Yemenia Flight 626 (2009): 152 (2009) Survivors: 1 Name: Bahia Bakari, age 14 Age: 14 Hours Spent At Sea Clinging To Wreckage: Nine-plus Injuries: Hypothermia, fractured collarbone Last Memory Before Crash: Announcement to fasten seatbelt Fatalities On Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (1987): 154 Fatalities On The Ground: 2 Lone Survivor: Cecelia Cichan, age 4 How She Was Found: Shielded under her mother Gifts Received In Hospital: 2,000+ Cards: 30,000+ Special Attendee At Her Wedding: Firefighter who saved her life Crash Where Sole Survivor Was At The Controls: Comair Flight 5191 (2006) Cause: Incorrect runway/runway overrun Runway Used: 26, 3,501 ft Length The CL-600 Required For Takeoff: 3,744 ft Sole Survivor Left Stranded In Remote Mountain Range: Annette Herfkens Crash: Vietnamese Airlines Flight VN474 (1992) Fatalities: 30 Days Before Rescue: 8 Herfkens’ Injuries: Fractured hips, collapsed lung, broken jaw Longest Time Before A Sole Survivor Was Rescued: 11 days Location: Amazon…

alien abduction…or pilot error?

THE MYSTERY In 1978, low-time Aussie pilot Frederick Valentich, flying a rental Cessna 182, vanished after reporting an unidentified flying object circling above him. Could Valentich have fallen victim to a genuine alien abduction? BACKGROUND It was Oct. 21, 1978, and the sun was setting into the Australian horizon. At 6:19 p.m., a young pilot named Frederick Valentich took off in a rented Cessna 182L from Moorabbin Airport in Victoria. He was en route to King Island, a 130-nautical-mile journey over a body of water known as the Bass Strait. The Strait is famous for its difficult flying conditions, but on this night, the skies were clear and the winds calm. Valentich was eager to make his destination, where friends awaited, ready to dine on fresh seafood along the water’s edge. Sadly, Valentich never…

news of note

COLORADO FAA WEATHER CAMS ARE LIVE! The FAA has gone live with its Colorado weather cams, which can be accessed via the internet. Many of the most problematic passes in the Rocky Mountain State are now outfitted with the cams, which can show you not only a live view but also a playback mode that captures previous images of the pass in question, so you can see how the weather is trending. There are 13 cams now, and each one has multiple views out. Using the cams couldn’t be any easier. Just go to the FAA’s weather cam site, and you’ll find a zoomable map showing the location of the FAA’s cams—most, not surprisingly, are in Alaska. Find the one you want, click on it, and it’s lights, cameras, action, and all…

microsoft flight simulator 2020 dazzles

With the pandemic still in full effect, never has there been a more perfect time for a new product you can use at home, improve your flying chops and have a blast while doing it. Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 is that product. What benefits will pilots enjoy? Numerous ones, but the biggest, in our view, is the chance to fly challenging or higher-risk procedures in your home sim before you fly them in real life. And, yes, we know you could have done this before on other simulations, including previous editions of MS Flight Simulator, but this is different. Here’s why it’s something pilots will want to get their hands on. First off, it’s drop-dead gorgeous to look at, and that means not only the planes, which are rendered in more realism by…

the right stuff reboot coming

Disney has announced a for-streaming dramatic-series reboot of The Right Stuff, which was both a great book, written by Tom Wolfe and published in 1979, and arguably an even better movie of the same name, directed by Philip Kaufman. Both take a long look into the beginning of the United States NASA manned space program. The series starts in October. It does raise a good question: With a subject that has already been done so well, do we really need a new version of The Right Stuff,? I’d argue that we do. Reboots happen in Hollywood all the time. An old series or movie that might have been popular (or, maybe, not so much) is brought back for another go-around, sometimes in a different format—movie to series, or vice versa. Part of…