Will drones replace pilots?

No. A lot more development is still needed to bring unmanned aircraft up to the capabilities of manned aircraft. And manned aircraft are still very effective and have a number of considerable advantages at present. The other factor is that airforce leaders want to maintain men under their command rather than robots.



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Overall employment of airline and commercial pilots is projected to grow 6 percent from 2021 to 2031, about as fast as the average for all occupations. About 18,100 openings for airline and commercial pilots are projected each year, on average, over the decade.

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While the average annual salary for a drone pilot is around $50,000, that number varies depending on what type of drone work you do — as well as where you do it. For example, a commercial drone pilot will generally make more than a professional pilot. The quality of the photographs you take also matters.

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Tsourdos says it is highly unlikely that we will have commercial flights without pilots any time soon. “The role of the pilots may change through the years, so they will be supervisors. I think from the safety and resilience point of view, it's unlikely they'll disappear,” he says.

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Will we always need pilots? Boeing predicts a need for 600,000 new pilots in the next two decades, but by some estimates there will be a shortfall of at least 34,000 pilots globally by 2025. Reducing the number of pilots on some crews or aircraft could help mitigate the impact of this.

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