Does Landmark Unmanned Flight Spell Doom for Test Pilots?
For decades flight testing often came down to strapping a person inside experimental aircraft and telling the pilot to spin and roll their planes out of control at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,150 meters) while traveling hundreds of miles an hour. Test pilots have to be physically tough enough to withstand forces up to eight g’s, a pull eight times the force of gravity, which can distort vision, impair breathing, and sometimes cause regurgitation. It’s not only danger that threatens human test pilots. Economics is also involved.
