I like deep nets, don't get me wrong..just got to be very careful and understand there limitations.
Also, I've heard it is incredible easy to get VC right now, so I'd take it with a grain of salt. Rich old dudes are throwing money at buzzwords.
I did my masters thesis on an aircraft autopilot that could re-learn to fly the jet in the event of damage (lost wing, stuck aileron...etc)...and it worked very well (in simulation). I've also applied them to various other Aerospace applications with success. In my experience, you need to have a solid understanding of the underlying process (domain knowledge). Blindly applying ML algorithms won't cut it.
Good luck