High-speed aircraft are marvels of modern engineering.Thousands of hours of engineering go into the average air craft, and for good reason. There are hundreds of different componenents that need to work together in order to collect, analyze, and translate data in a way that provides accurate information to the pilots and allow complex components to work properly. This goes for when the pilot is in the craft, or if they are seated comfortably in a flight center. Drones and jest are both amazing feats of engineering, but what’s the difference.
Jets are manned aircraft, meaning that a person needs to be present in the cockpit in order to operate it. Drones are unmanned, there doesn’t need to be anyone in the craft in order to make it fly. Jets can reach amazing speeds, but they are limited in some ways because the pilot would be unable to handle some maneuvers. Drones are capable of amazing speeds as well, but it takes a special affinity for flight to handle the craft properly.
The idea of unmanned flight has a lot of applications. Military strikes that would put a pilot in immediate danger could be done with a drone, reducing the risk of harm to soldiers. Surveying an area is possible even in areas that would be difficult to maneuver in because of the size of a jet. Drones can reach more constricted areas because they are smaller and able to make maneuvers that a jet couldn’t. Scientific study of areas outside the atmosphere is considerably easier without the restrictions caused by an operator’s needs. Oxygen and food wouldn’t need to weigh down the craft since the operator wouldn’t be present on the craft.
Drones make it possible for pilots to achieve things they might not be able to do in a traditional aircraft. But those things are possible without the pilot being involved at all. Some drones are actually capable of autonomous flight. Complex maneuvers and tasks can simply be programmed into the computer on the craft and then carried out by the drone’s onboard computer. This means that drones might soon be taking over the skies in ways most people might not expect.