The BaseEssayWIREDNovember 14, 2026

No Pilots. Few Air Traffic Controllers. What Could Go Wrong?

In a long read, WIRED's Jeff Wise surveys AI's spread in aviation, from the FAA's SMART airspace tool and drone delivery to autonomous aircraft, and sets safety worries from retired staff, lawmakers and regulators against experts who see benefits.

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Why it matters

The same thing, for different readers.

What it means for you

Flights may increasingly rely on AI tools in air traffic management, and the FAA says SMART assists controllers rather than replaces them.

For lawmakers

Almost two dozen Democratic lawmakers reportedly asked the Government Accountability Office to review SMART over fears it might hallucinate safety-critical information, while the FAA cut its controller staffing target.

For researchers

WIRED cites a Collins Aerospace researcher's 2021 paper saying frozen neural networks can produce unexpected and potentially dangerous outputs in situations absent from training.

In their own words

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From the source’s own text.

“Aviation regulation has been conservative and prioritizes reliability, because the consequences of failure are severe”

Mary Schiavo, aviation lawyer and former Department of Transportation inspector generalSchiavo on why aviation regulators have moved slowly on new technology.

Found word for word in the sourceAs quoted in the text we read, not the speaker’s own text or a transcript of their words

“When you have the computing capability to look at the entire trajectory of the aircraft, you can see where the conflicts are going to be”

Michael McCormick, professor of air traffic management, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityMcCormick on the advantage of predictive tools like SMART for air traffic control.