Airbus tries auto landings with bug’s eye view

Australian pilots have expressed alarm as Airbus confirms it is testing an A350 aircraft fitted with cameras – using technology inspired by dragonflies – to enable fully automated or single-pilot cockpits in the future.

An Airbus A350 fitted with ‘DragonFly’ cameras.

Australian pilots have expressed alarm as Airbus confirms it is testing an A350 aircraft fitted with cameras – and using technology inspired by the extraordinary eyesight of dragonflies – to enable fully automated or single-pilot cockpits in the future.

The new Airbus technology employs “biomimicry” – creating designs by emulating nature – based on the way dragonflies recognise landmarks, to divert, land and taxi planes without a pilot.

The test flights are being conducted despite strong opposition to the cost-cutting plans being considered by airlines and international aviation regulators that would remove co-pilots from commercial flights by as early as 2030.

The Australian and International Pilots Association – which represents more than 2000 Australian pilots, most of them from Qantas – says that automated systems like the Airbus DragonFly cannot replace the experience and reactions of trained pilots in the event of an emergency.

Association president and Qantas A330 captain Tony Lucas said automation was designed to support the decision-making of a pilot team, not to make decisions on its own.

“This reliance that the auto­pilot is going to be able to save the day is … foolhardy. When things go wrong in an aeroplane, they go wrong really quickly and it frequently takes the combined efforts of two well-trained, well-rested ­pilots to resolve those situations.”

Airbus said the DragonFly test flights showed the technology was able to assist pilots in-flight, managing a simulated incapacitated crew member event, and during landing and taxiing operations.

“Taking into account external factors such as flight zones, terrain and weather conditions, the aircraft was able to generate a new flight trajectory plan and communicate with both Air Traffic Control and the airline Operations Control Centre,” it said.

The DragonFly technology is being developed by Airbus UpNext, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus.

“Inspired by biomimicry, the systems being tested have been designed to identify features in the landscape that enable an aircraft to ‘see’ and safely manoeuvre autonomously within its surroundings, in the same way that dragonflies are known to have the ability to recognise landmarks,” Airbus UpNext head demonstrator Isabelle Lacaze said.

“In the unlikely situation where a crew is unable to control the aircraft, DragonFly can redirect the flight to the nearest appropriate airport and facilitate a safe landing,” the company claimed.

The technology could allow the aircraft to land at any airport in the world regardless of whether it is equipped with existing ground equipment technology currently used for automatic landing, Airbus said. “Safe flight and landing is ­ensured by the Automated Emergency Ops application.”

Airbus has worked with Cathay Pacific on a venture that aims to certify A350 jets for single-pilot operations.

German airline Lufthansa has worked on a similar plan.

Airbus has pitched the DragonFly program as an added layer of safety, but many pilots fear it will do the opposite.

Captain Lucas said that in all the most significant adverse events Qantas pilots had experienced in recent years, the malfunctions meant that there was no autopilot available.

“So you know Airbus can keep dreaming up how an aeroplane can do an emergency diversion but I’m not sure how it does an emergency diversion with no autopilot and no actual pilot.”

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has not ruled out single-pilot operations, but says the airline is “not pushing” to adopt them.