Autonomous Cessna Caravan

AirVenture is a place for firsts, but it’s usually a hands-on experience. Earlier this week, three people in a Cessna Caravan watched as the autonomous system developed by Merlin Labs brought the big single to a perfect landing at the big show with no human intervention. AvBrief got a tour of the tech involved.

Produced by Sy Pinkert.

Russ Niles
Russ Niles
Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AvBrief.com. He has been a pilot for 30 years and an aviation journalist since 2003. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.

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Eric
Eric
1 month ago

Is there a reason we are celebrating this? While the technology is amazing, and no one would know this better than us pilots, why are we happy this is one more step from removing us from cockpits?

There is the old joke about airplanes being so automated that they only have a pilot and a dog in the cockpit. “what’s the dog for?” To bite the pilot if he tries to touch anything. “Then, what’s the pilot for?” To feed the dog…