Autonomous aircraft: Pilot-free crop dusters lead the way - BBC News

Autonomous crop-spraying aircraft are leading the way in pilot-free flying.

Image source, PykaImage caption, Pyka's crop dusters are used in the US and Brazil

Over an alfalfa field in California's San Joaquin Valley, a small crop-spraying plane is flying scarily low to the ground. There's little risk to humans though, as the plane is pilot-free.

"We can actually go lower than a human pilot can," says Russ Marotzke, as the aircraft skims over the crop.

Flying lower means less spray drift and therefore less chemicals are needed than in conventional manned crop-dusting, he says.

The pilotless plane belongs to Pyka, where Marotzke works as a flight test engineer.