Drone-Style Systems Could Stop Future Crashes

Technology offers the hope that the Germanwings plane disaster will never happen again, experts have told Sky News.

Systems are already in place to fly unmanned planes from the ground, but they are currently only used in the military sphere.

French prosecutors have said that the captain of the Germanwings plane was locked out of the cockpit as Andreas Lupitz sent the Airbus A320 into a mountain in the French Alps.

In 2009, Honeywell was awarded a patent for a fly-by-wire system that could take control of a plane's cockpit controls and remotely pilot a commercial plane to prevent "unauthorised-flight" and maintain "stable flight".

It has been suggested that the system or others like it could have helped prevent not only the Germanwings disaster but also the disappearance of MH370 if there had been a way to alert ground staff to an on-board emergency.

Mischa Dohler, Head of King's College London's Centre for Telecommunications Research, told Sky News: "We have all the technology in place so the aircraft can talk to the ground directly or via the satellite link, so that is all possible. It's just a question of cost.

"At the end of the day, you just need to pay for the infrastructure or a data plan, in the same way as you might pay for your mobile phones.

"The airlines have to decide whether they are willing to invest that money to add that extra real-time safety to airplanes."

David Cummins, Head of Flight Operations at UMS Aerogroup and an expert on unmanned aircraft, said: "We not at the stage where we are talking about autonomous systems that will operate and look after the aircraft.

"We are talking about automated systems where ultimately man, an operator, will always be in the loop."

He told Sky News there are systems in existence that could keep a plane safer without requiring one to be controlled from the ground.

"We need a number of years (before) we will ever see the first unmanned commercial aircraft but there are checks and balances that can be put into play.

"You can look at collision avoidance - the Germanwings is an example - there is technology that exists and is in place that could help.

"There's also sense-and-avoid systems on aircraft that will also be the pilot's eyes on an aircraft. So there are a number of steps we can take.

"We are years away from doing it, but the technology exists and its about putting the time and effort and ultimately the finance.

"What the aviation industry is very good at is not knee-jerk reaction. You've got to remember that this is still an incredibly safe method of travel."