[sandworm101]

Flying is not driving. Things dont happen as quickly. Kids dont step out in front of jets at 30,000 feet. Air is also homogenous. Pavement is not. Whereas a car must turn or die, a jet can generally fly straight and level without issue while problems get solved. An out-of-control car has maybe three seconds before a collision. A jet will generally have over a minute to get back under control.

Sure, there are moments. Landing and takeoff are very time sensitive operations, but those also occur in protected environments, sanitized of the random issues that cars must deal with.

And the AI isnt doing all the flying. The aircraft has many protective systems to assist the pilot regardless of who that pilot may be. (Stable aerodynamics, anti-stall limits, control lockouts etc.)

[mrob]

>Stable aerodynamics

The F-16 is famously the first production aircraft with unstable aerodynamics, to increase maneuverability. It's not flyable without computer assistance. This is standard for all modern fighter jets.

[Terr_]

I think we need to start distinguishing between different qualitative grades of "computer assistance" here. The executive decision of "fly north instead of east" is on a different tier than "increase angle of flap more than normal to compensate for under-performing in prior maneuver."

In the broadest sense, my car is not drive-able without computer assistance either, because if you burn out the computers the engine won't start.

[Onavo]

But your average Cessna lawnmower engine is perfectly startable without computer assistance.

[kQq9oHeAz6wLLS]

So is my 80 year old car. But like the Cessna, it's suited to a vastly different role than a Lamborghini.

[laughing_man]

Buy the same token, your car's autopilot can't kill you without even hitting something by making a turn that's too sharp.

[sandworm101]

Neither can a jet. An f16 can only sustain 9g for a few seconds even at full burn. That will not kill anyone. They won't be happy, but they will not be dead.

[laughing_man]

As I understand it, the 9g limit is software intended to keep the pilot alive. The jet can do more.

[sandworm101]

It can do 10, for a second or two. At 9+g is will be bleeding energy so fast that, in a few seconds, it will be moving too slowly to continue turning like that without stalling.