Control & Operations

Why we must learn how to accept uncertainty James Perry, Editing Director Image credit: Cryteria Artificial intelligence is creeping into all walks of life as its potential uses are explored. Despite the many advantages such technology could bring, adoption into commercial aviation has been slower than elsewhere. We explore the reasons why, and how this can change. In 2022, OpenAI released the first public version of ChatGPT [1]. The name easily rolls off the tongue nowadays, and few readers would not be familiar with it. Casting one’s mind back two years shows how much the world has changed in such a short amount of time. Two years ago, there was no way to put something on paper except by writing it yourself. There was no way to solve a bug in your code except by searching Sta...

A detailed look at the most probable path forward Alex Nedelcu and Miguel Castro Gracia, Leonardo Times Editors Quoting the International Air Transport Association, in 2024, “there was no let-up in the industry’s determination to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050” [1]. But beyond the promotional material, is the aviation sector really on the way to decarbonizing in time to avoid the most dangerous climate scenarios? Or is the industry’s continued growth fundamentally incompatible with sustainable transport? Commercial aviation has increased more than eighty-fold since the 1960s, with a 3% average yearly growth rate. It has already contributed around 3.5% of the total anthropogenic global warming to date and now contributes around 5.9% of ongoing emissions. While global war...

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Can Aviation Decarbonize?