Merlin Labs is testing an AI pilot in a Cessna Caravan over Rhode Island as it seeks certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, with the company saying it has completed hundreds of test flights. The demonstration at Quonset State Airport showed a small aircraft accelerating down the runway and climbing into the air while the pilot beside CNN’s Pete Muntean kept his hands off the controls.
Who Gets Handed the Controls
On the flight, test pilot Matt Diamond in the left seat was not controlling the airplane. Many of the normal tasks of piloting were being handled by artificial intelligence. The airplane was labeled “experimental.” The Merlin Pilot system handled more than a traditional autopilot, using a natural language processing model to listen to instructions from a mock air traffic controller and responding over the radio using a computerized female voice. Diamond said, “Authorize,” and the airplane began turning to a new course.
Tim Burns, chief technology officer at startup Merlin Labs, joked over the airplane’s intercom from a back seat, “Let’s see those jazz hands.” Pete Muntean wrote that surrendering control to a computer did not come naturally to him as a pilot and that the demonstration was important as more aviation companies look to AI to usher in a new evolution in air travel by automating tasks for pilots and perhaps one day enabling fully autonomous flights.
The company’s pitch lands in a system already strained by the demands placed on workers and passengers alike. The article says airlines worldwide are facing a growing pilot shortage and that Boeing estimates carriers will need more than 600,000 new pilots over the next two decades. It also says aviation safety officials are confronting increasing pressure on an already strained air traffic control system following a series of high-profile close calls and deadly accidents in recent years.
What the Top Calls “Modernization”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has promoted artificial intelligence tools as part of the Trump administration’s broader push to modernize the nation’s aging air traffic control system. Duffy said, “We are never going to outsource the national airspace to AI tools,” and added, “Controllers are going to control the airspace, but we can make their jobs easier.” He said the administration sees AI as a way to reduce workload for controllers and improve efficiency across increasingly crowded airspace.
That promise of efficiency comes from the same institutional logic that keeps the system moving by squeezing more out of the people already inside it. The article frames AI as a tool to help controllers and pilots manage a crowded and aging apparatus, not as a replacement for the hierarchy that created the strain in the first place.
Merlin CEO Matthew George said, “Eighty percent of accidents in aviation are still caused by human error.” He added, “If we can reduce that, that’s a pretty useful way to spend our time.” The article says commercial aviation has steadily added automation for decades, leading to today’s fly-by-wire systems in which computers interpret pilot inputs even during manual flight. Mykel Kochenderfer, whose research at Stanford University focuses on autonomous systems and aviation safety, said, “Modern cockpits have quite a bit of automation already, but the automation is within a narrowly defined scope.” He said newer AI-assisted systems are designed to handle a broader range of unexpected situations than traditional rule-based automation. Kochenderfer said, “Our experience shows this can be a very promising way to enhance safety,” but added, “the industry has a long way to go to further harden the technology and establish the trust required for acceptance.”
Who Says It’s Safe
Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association which represents more than 79,000 pilots in the United States and Canada, said automation and AI should support pilots, not replace them. He said in a statement to CNN, “Technological advancements can improve aviation safety, but they will never be a substitute for the pilots on an aircraft.” He added, “The most important safety feature on every airline flight will always be two well-trained and rested pilots on the flightdeck.” Merlin said fully pilotless passenger flights are still far away and that, “We’re not flipping a switch to uncrewed airplanes.” George said, “This is about putting AI alongside human pilots and building trust.”
The company said it has completed hundreds of test flights as it works toward certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, whose standards are among the strictest in transportation and often require years of testing and redundancy analysis before new systems are approved. Merlin recently secured a contract worth more than $100 million with the US Air Force to eventually bring the technology to C-130 cargo planes.
As the Merlin system lined the aircraft up on final approach, it started a gradual descent toward runway 34 and jockeyed the controls to stay on the flight path, despite a slight crosswind, all the way to touchdown. Diamond said, “It’s a challenging problem for the automation,” and added, “But once you crack it, it makes things much easier on the pilot.”