Actually he likes taxi so much, he taxied his 747-8 from one stand to another in Haneda (took 15 minutes!), despite the taxi clearance was for the active runway and the flight meant to arrive in Osaka… sigh
2 Likes
Don’t get me started. Charlie’s endless faffing about on taxiways is infuriating!
It’s been baffling me too - yesterday flew from Torreon to Tucson in the CJ4 … did most of it on autopilot (trying to get the hang of that now). Handed the landing over to Charlie to watch the view form outside. Last 4 flights I’ve done up from South America all went well.
Firstly, Charlie descended (as instructed) and turned towards the city. I was alarmed by an approaching mountain, which required an abrupt “I have control” and full TOGA power to avoid.
Things settled down and Charlie did pretty well, right until turning onto final when he decided that an abrupt descending left turn was the appropriate approach (no, those aren’t trees, they’re desert shrubs … good job the gophers are not one of the modeled wildlife features!) Airport is about 2 miles at our 8 o’clock and we’re about 400ft AGL. I tried to wrestle control back. Let’s just say it didn’t end well…
So yeah - same experience - a succession of good AI controlled flights than some very odd and erratic behavior.
3 Likes
this topic is the best
1 Like
Charlie and mountains do not go together well. 
It is baffling. Surely the A.I. has the topographic info to know there’s an incredibly large mass of rock directly obstructing the way, so perhaps going around or over it might be preferable to attempting to go through it…? But, nope. Charlie seems to think the latter is always worth a try… 
Enjoyed your post! Glad to see Charlie isn’t trolling only me!
1 Like
Trolled again … just been gotten by the miserable taxi issues. Left the gate at Tucson 45 minutes ago with Charlie in control. So far, been required to hold position for other traffic eleven times! Good job I was watching TV at the same time.
As you can see, the airport is just so busy.
This flight isn’t going to get done this afternoon now. And with the unbelievable fuel consumption of the aircraft, probably going to have to taxi back to the gate to refuel anyway 
3 Likes
‘Other traffic’? You saw ‘other traffic’? Perhaps Charlie was just as shocked as I am! 
Also, I think this is fairly conclusive evidence that ATC are clearly in on the act with Charlie.
1 Like
So I just had to try this to see what’s what with Charlie. Although I think Charlie is Charli as my co-pilot definitely has a female voice.
Simple 747 trip from Edinburgh to London City (I’m sure the runway at City will be long enough??) - just to see what’s what.
It didn’t start too well. Charli got pushed back and then taxied off to Runway 30 - which is odd as that seems to be the shorter runway at Edinburgh. She taxied around a bit, and then got onto the runway heading the wrong way, taxied halfway down the runway, and tried to do a u-turn. After trundling over the grass for a bit, he started to accelerate towards the end of the runway - worryingly, this was from half way down the runway, and so there wasn’t nearly enough space to take off. Fortunately Charli seemed to come to her senses and applied the brakes, bringing us to a halt with about a quarter of the runway ahead of us.
And here we sit. Not quite sure what to do now. Charli has control…but we are not going anywhere…
EDIT: I think there is a lot of pilot error here - i.e. my fault. I forgot to switch on a high altitude IFR route - instead I set a direct VFR route - so this maybe wasn’t a fair test for Charli and probably contributed to using runway 30
EDIT EDIT: Given second test experience, I’m not so sure now…
Welcome to A.I. Airlines. 
This is pretty much par for the course. You’ll get used to it. When Charlie/Charli/Chuckie is sober and awake you might even get to enjoy a totally trouble-free flight. But A.I. Airlines make no guarantees. Every flight with your A.I. Co-Pilot in charge is an existential quandary. 
Buckle up!
1 Like
Ok, so I thought I just had to have a go at this to see what AI Airways is like. Thought I’d try a simple Edinburgh to London Heathrow flight in an A320
So Charli (yes, my co-pilot definitely has a female voice although she is invisible) took control at the stand. Here is my evaluation:
AI Airways – Pilot Evaluation Form
Pilot name: CHARLI CO-PILOT
Flight: EGPH to EGLL Aircraft: Airbus 320
Weather: Live
Startup
| ☐ | What checklist? |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Ticking all the boxes is optional right? |
| ☐ | Seemed to grasp the concept |
| ☐ | The basics seem good |
| ☒ | Stickler for perfection |
| Additional comments |
Taxi to take off
| ☐ | Clearly been drinking |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Where’s the satnav? |
| ☐ | Tarmac/grass? What’s the difference? |
| ☐ | Actually felt reasonably safe |
| ☒ | Glued to the yellow line – bang on target |
| Additional comments |
Take off
☐ See Aircrash Investigation for more details
☐ Pull up! Pull up!
☐ Well we made it…
☐ That wasn’t actually that bad
☒ Done this before, a natural
Additional comments
Departure procedures
| ☐ | Woo Hoo! – Sorry, what’s a waypoint? |
|---|---|
| ☐ | What’s the problem, we’re on our way aren’t we? |
| ☐ | Tried hard, but could do better |
| ☐ | Only missed a couple of waypoints |
| ☒ | Perfectly done – nailed every waypoint |
| Additional comments |
Cruise
| ☐ | We’re running out of sickbags! |
|---|---|
| ☐ | My fingers are embedded in the armrests |
| ☐ | Lacking in clear direction, worryingly unstable |
| ☒ | Enjoyable – on track and not too bumpy |
| ☐ | Steady as a rock – slept the whole way |
| Additional comments | I slept the whole way with my earplugs in to stop the “overspeed” warning keeping me awake – why use anything less than full throttle? You get there quicker right? |
Approach procedures
| ☒ | Woo Hoo! – Sorry, what’s a waypoint? |
|---|---|
| ☐ | What’s the problem, we’re lined up aren’t we? |
| ☐ | Tried hard, but could do better |
| ☐ | Only missed a couple of waypoints |
| ☐ | Perfectly done – nailed every waypoint |
| Additional comments | All over the place - didn’t follow the flight plan at all – although maybe ATC redirected us by telepathy. We didn’t start descending until BNN. When we finally descended we looped around and around Heathrow at 600ft, brushing the rooftops before declaring a missed approach…and flew into the ether |
Landing
☐ See Aircrash Investigation for more details
☐ The passengers would applaud but they are frozen in fear
☐ There was some screaming but we’re down
☐ Made it onto the tarmac, but a little bumpy
☐ Buttery
Additional comments Not assessed - Never actually got there – Charli didn’t try again after the missed approach
Taxi to gate
| ☐ | Drives like a drunkard – no clue at all |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Tarmac is optional isn’t it? |
| ☐ | Mostly stuck to the tarmac |
| ☐ | Actually felt reasonably safe |
| ☐ | Glued to the yellow line – bang on target |
| Additional comments | Not assessed – never actually got to taxi |
ATC Communications
☐ Thought it was a CB radio – Rubber Duck
☒ I think we ordered takeaway a couple of times
☐ Not bad – managed not to hack ATC off too much
☐ Followed instructions pretty well actually
☐ Professional – clearly knew what they were doing
Additional comments I mean we are at 23,000ft at 420Kts, whilst being told to descend to 3,500ft and keep speed below 180Kts
Other observations
Wasn’t going too badly until the descent…and then the missed approach, and then disappearing into the distance and never looking back
5 Likes
I’ve found that if Charlie has a straight in approach, he/she does a little better. But if he/she has to make a left or right downwind, hold on!
But for the most part, Charlie just likes to hover down the runway on landing and then full throttle back into the sky without changing course. Did this once from London City to Bath. After trying to land at Bath, Charlie went into Ireland and that’s when I cut Charlie off because we were getting low on fuel.
The infamous Otto! I read that Otto was kept in Jerry Zucker’s garage, and eventually disintegrated there… So, no more Otto.
Hey Gordongreig … that’s priceless - has made my morning - Thanks!
I did have one occasion when Charlie missed the approach and sailed off into the wide blue yonder - I requested a different approach from ATC and miraculously, Charlie turned round and followed that in to a perfect landing.
The devs have done a remarkable job here - it’s unusual for a piece of computer code to be so utterly unpredictable.
I also noticed that too. Asking for a different approach or another airport, it will go there. Otherwise, you are on course to nowhere until you run out of fuel.
Confirmed - at least according to IMDb
OK, so I think I obviously started with something a bit too complex for Charli - I mean how could I reasonably expect her to step into a 747 or even an A320? So this time, I thought we’d try a short hop - Edinburgh to Glasgow in a TBM 930 (partly because I discovered that you can’t increase the sim rate while Charli has control - is that a bug?). I have flown this plane a lot in MSFS, and I know that the AP and Garmin work reasonably well, so I have high hopes for Charli this time around. We are going to go low altitude airways. I’m no expert in this, but my flight plan is EPGH>UW>MAVIX>GOV>EGPF and I’ve set departure via procedure GOSA1C 24 (it looked like that would take us towards Glasgow, and I’ve set approach ILS 23 and left Arrivals at “Direct”. Not sure exactly what that means, but I’m sure Charli does. We’re on live weather, and it looks like a nice day.
I have my clipboard and evaluation form at the ready. And my seatbelt tightly fastended. And my parachute. And I’ve left my last will and testament with my loved ones.
So here’s the evaluation:
AI Airways – Pilot Evaluation Form
Pilot name: CHARLI CO-PILOT
Flight: EGPH to EGPF Aircraft: TBM 930
Weather: Live
Startup
| ☒ | What checklist? |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Ticking all the boxes is optional right? |
| ☐ | Seemed to grasp the concept |
| ☐ | The basics seem good |
| ☐ | Stickler for perfection |
| Additional comments: | Charli completely ignored all of the checklists and just went straight ahead and fired her up…we only had a couple of caution lights flashing as we were pushed back off the stand, so no problem, right? |
Taxi to take off
| ☐ | Clearly been drinking |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Where’s the satnav? |
| ☐ | Tarmac/grass? What’s the difference? |
| ☐ | Actually felt reasonably safe |
| ☒ | Glued to the yellow line – bang on target |
| Additional comments: | Looked excellent. Managed to not crash into any of the other GA planes that were parked up on the ramp. Followed the ATC taxi instructions to the letter |
Take off
☐ See Aircrash Investigation for more details
☐ Pull up! Pull up!
☐ Well we made it…
☐ That wasn’t actually that bad
☒ Done this before, a natural
Additional comments: Well done. Waited for clearance before joining the runway and a nice smooth take off and initial climb straight out
Departure procedures
| ☐ | Woo Hoo! – Sorry, what’s a waypoint? |
|---|---|
| ☐ | What’s the problem, we’re on our way aren’t we? |
| ☐ | Tried hard, but could do better |
| ☐ | Only missed a couple of waypoints |
| ☒ | Perfectly done – nailed every waypoint |
| Additional comments: | A straight out departure, so I wasn’t expecting any excitement here |
Cruise
| ☐ | We’re running our of sickbags! |
|---|---|
| ☐ | My fingers are embedded in the armrests |
| ☐ | Lacking in clear direction, worryingly unstable |
| ☐ | Enjoyable – on track and not too bumpy |
| ☒ | Steady as a rock – slept the whole way |
| Additional comments: | Pretty good actually. Managed the throttles at 65%, so avoided the constant overspeed warning. A big improvement over the A320. Things are looking good, but getting here is the easy part right? |
Approach procedures
| ☐ | Woo Hoo! – Sorry, what’s a waypoint? |
|---|---|
| ☒ | What’s the problem, we’re lined up aren’t we? |
| ☐ | Tried hard, but could do better |
| ☐ | Only missed a couple of waypoints |
| ☐ | Perfectly done – nailed every waypoint |
| Additional comments: | Uh oh. Here we go again. As soon as we are supposed to start the approach procedures, Charli goes off piste. Seemed to ignore the flight plan approach vector and went and did her own thing. Lots of curvy turns rather than the 90 degree bends in the flight plan/GPS map, so maybe that’s OK? Broadly seemed to be following the GPS route though. Gear down 10 miles out seems a bit early? VOR navigation kicked in at this point rather than the localizer, so I’m worrying that she’s not tuned the ILS frequency right. Still, we seem to be roughly lined up. Definitely seems to be navigating by telepathy. The Garmin is still locked to a GPS waypoint 10 mile out of the runway as we begin final approach We have a VOR lock to somewhere else, and no ILS… |
Landing
☐ See Aircrash Investigation for more details
☐ The passengers would applaud but they are frozen in fear
☐ There was some screaming but we’re down
☐ Made it onto the tarmac, but a little bumpy
☒ Buttery
Additional comments: Well that was a surprise. Beautiful smooth landing – although we did probably overfly about a third of the tarmac before touching down – super smooth though and came to a sensible stop
Taxi to gate
| ☐ | Drives like a drunkard – no clue at all |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Tarmac is optional isn’t it? |
| ☐ | Mostly stuck to the tarmac |
| ☐ | Actually felt reasonably safe |
| ☒ | Glued to the yellow line – bang on target |
| Additional comments: | Wow – didn’t miss a trick. Even stopped for a couple of “traffic holds” – which looked like “wait for the cars to drive in front of you” rather than other aircraft |
ATC Communications
☐ Thought it was a CB radio – Rubber Duck
☐ I think we ordered takeaway a couple of times
☐ Not bad – managed not to hack ATC off too much
☒ Followed instructions pretty well actually
☐ Professional – clearly knew what they were doing
Additional comments: Some confusion over the approach procedure I think, but other than that, not bad
Other observations
Not bad at all actually. PASS
1 Like
I’m starting to think Charlie/Charli/Chuckie is some kind of elaborate meta game-within-a-game on Asobo’s part. 
Love the Pilot Evaluation Form! This should be immediately incorporated into real training. Or is it?
I think Charli could have her own TV series. No two episodes would be the same
1 Like