Evan's dream has come true

[BoeingBobby]

Automatic takeoffs are coming for passenger jets and they’re going to redraw the map of the sky https://www.cnn.com/travel/embraer-e...tem/index.html

[BoeingBobby]

Just need an Uber driver to get it from the gate to the runway!

[flashcrash]

Embraer E2TS seems fairly basic. "The only thing that changes is that pilots do not rotate the aircraft themselves,” Affonso said. They will still have their hands on the yoke, just like they would during an automatic landing"

Embraer Introduces Automatic Takeoffs For E2 Family | Aviation Week Network

However, Airbus ATTOL (first demonstrated 4 years ago) is more ambitious. "The next steps in the project will see automatic vision-based taxi and landing sequences taking place by mid-2020".

Airbus demonstrates first fully automatic vision-based take-off | Airbus

[Gabriel]

This is really not adding up... but not for the reasons you may think.

Called “E2 Enhanced Take Off System,” after the family of aircraft it’s designed for, the technology would not only improve safety by reducing pilot workload, but it would also improve range and takeoff weight, allowing the planes that use it to travel farther, according to Embraer.

“The system is better than the pilots,” says Patrice London, principal performance engineer at Embraer, who has worked on the project for over a decade. ”That’s because it performs in the same way all the time. If you do 1,000 takeoffs, you will get 1,000 of exactly the same takeoff.”

As a result, the takeoff distance – which is calculated from the release of the brakes until the plane reaches 35 feet of altitude – is reduced compared to a manual takeoff.

Crucially, the system allows the plane to take off as early as possible and more steeply, but without ever incurring a tail strike. “If you’re a pilot, you have to give some room for error,” says Affonso. “But because this system is so precise and consistent, you don’t need the same margins and you can operate closer to the optimum in the initial rotation, as if you were closer to touching with the tail. Except you will not.”

Embraer says this optimization allows for an increase in takeoff weight, which means either more passengers or more range — up to 350 nautical miles.

Ok, that's cool.

What happens in case of an emergency? The system reacts in the same way as the normal autopilot, sounding an alarm and giving controls back to the pilots. “I tested the system in failure cases, especially when you lose an engine,” Affonso says. “It is amazing how you get a workload reduction, especially during a failure.

However, Affonso adds, this is not a first step towards total automation, or even getting rid of one of the pilots. “We are just adding one phase, which is the takeoff phase, where you now can have the autopilot engaged,” he says, “but it’s far from from autonomous, because the pilot is there, and if there is a failure, the pilot is the one that will take control.”

Wait what?????

During a failure an alarm will sound, the autopilot will disconnect and you have to take manual control but it is especially in that case where you get an amazing workload reduction?

And, repeat again all that about the precise rotation being able to achieve 35 ft in a shorter distance an hence being able to increase the useful load either in the form of fuel/range or pax/revenue?
Do I need to remind anybody that the distant to achieve 35 ft is calculated UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT AN ENGINE FIALS JUST SHY OF V1, where you would have ana alrm sound, the autopilot disconnect, and the pilot having to rotate manually?

I don't see how a take-off weight increase based on precise rotation can be certifiable under these conditions.