New research out of Germany is showing thought-controlled aircraft will likely be crisscrossing the sky in the not-so-distant future.

Scientists from the Institute for Flight System Dynamics at Technische Universität München -- or, Technical University of Munich -- have built and successfully conducted initial testing on a flight system that takes its queues from an individual's brainwaves.

"With brain control, flying, in itself, could become easier. This would reduce the work load of pilots and thereby increase safety. In addition, pilots would have more freedom of movement to manage other manual tasks in the cockpit," aerospace engineer Tim Fricke, who heads the European Union-funded project, said in a university news release.

In order for humans and machines to communicate, the brain waves of the pilots are measured using electroencephalography (or, EEG) electrodes connected to a skull cap. An algorithm developed by scientists from the Technische Universität Berlin, or, Technical University of Berlin, allows the program to decode electrical potentials and convert them into useful commands.

During the test, the pilot touches neither pedals nor controls; everything is manipulated by thought.

As such, only the very clearly defined electrical brain impulses required for control are recognized by the brain-computer interface, said Fricke. "This is pure signal processing."

Mind reading, he said, is not possible with the new technology.

The scientists, led by university professor Florian Holzapfel, tested the revolutionary control technology on seven subjects who rode in a flight simulator.

The participants reported varying levels of flight experience, including, in the case of one subject, no practical cockpit experience at all.

"One of the subjects was able to follow 8 out of 10 target headings with a deviation of only 10 degrees," Fricke said, while several of the study participants also managed the landing approach under poor visibility. One test pilot landed within only few yards of the center line along the simulated landing strip.

The researchers said the ability of all the test subjects to remain on the flight-simulated course by simply thinking commands would have demonstrated enough control over a plane to fulfill the basic requirements of a flying license test, at least in part.

Ultimately, said Fricke, a thought-controlled plane would be much easier to fly than contemporary craft -- thereby giving more people the ability to traverse the friendly skies.

"A long-term vision of the project is to make flying accessible to more people," he said.