Airline operators to push for lone pilot flights despite safety concerns

I thought the FAA mandated redundancy for all critical aircraft systems. The single pitot source for the original MCAS software is a good study in the consequences of a single point failure, and the proposal to reduce the crew to one while piloting a high-speed vehicle with hundreds of lives at stake is beyond irresponsible. This is a case where the cost of safety (redundant pilots) is fully justifiable, as is the extra cost of redundant systems.

I had a back seater when I flew F-4 Phantoms. When the shit hit the fan, as it often did, I could focus on flying the plane and leave the rest to him. Could never have done both. I owe my life to him.

This dumb idea is just "not ready for prime time"

This dumb idea is just "not ready for prime time"

Why must a corporation cut out a crew member to increase profits/stock price and put all passengers at life risk? The law suits would be overwhelming in any crash..? I flew long haul & the other qualified pilot did sleep in the left/right seat, but WAS THERE.

I wonder how much the airlines' insurers will raise their premiums if this happens. I assume that the sharp-pencil guys are taking that into account.

Just pick a random passenger to fly the plane. Who needs a pilot anymore?

Comforting.. when the lone pilot walks back to the bathroom

TESLA autopilots... What could go wrong?

Obviously, everyone who is for this, including the ones who came up with this idea -- ARE NOT PILOTS !!!!! The pilot, even on a normal flight, would be overworked and stressed beyond belief -- NOT TO MENTION IF THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY !!!!! How would the pilot troubleshoot, fly the plane, and correct the problem, along with navigating ALL at the same time. There are circuit breakers out of his reach, so if the pilot needed to troubleshoot, that ONE person would have to get up out of their seat -- WHO IS GOING TO FLY THE PLANE ?! In many Emergencies, the pilot is ALL hands on just trying to keep the plane flying straight and level.

I suppose robots/AI will do both jobs in 20 years time

It’s too dangerous. Look at the last 3 years. How many pilots have died or become incompasitated at the controls. The copilot had to land the plane. Safety first. There are refunded systems on the aircraft. Why not have a backup copilot I at the controls too. If this would ever happen. I won’t fly commercial.

The airlines want to "cut costs"! How much of this cost cutting will be returned to the passengers who are assuming all the risk and potentially none of the reward? I will never fly on a solo pilot jumbo jet!

Hay, get rid of both pilots and let the robot fly the aircraft, airline profit margin will soar .

It will be interesting to see how task saturation is measured against a single pilot. There are a number of "routine" emergencies - like an engine out - that you could program for. It's the one that can't be simulated will be a big problem. Also - verifying that the AI is working correctly / hasn't been compromised in some way.

Foreign Carriers in some instances have much lower experience requirements for PIC. I don't fly on any of them and going to a single pilot on one of those airlines - yow !

What safety concerns? The vast majority of safety incidents are caused by pilot error. Reducing the role of the pilot and increasing the role of automation, with the ability to intervene from the ground where decisions can be taken without the stress and emotional impact of being in the air, will only further increase safety.

I agree this is the only answer for the pilot shortage problem, which will only get worse as aviation is losing ground with young people as a career option (becoming an influencer, Youtuber or gamer was indicated as much more desirable in a recent poll).

Airlines are right to not worry about the impact on ticket sales. Such impact would only be temporary, and passengers will come back when the ticket price is $5 lower than the competitor.

Pilot died on flight leaving Chicago last Saturday and the copilot brought the plane and passengers back to the airport. This could never be done with one pilot

Hopefully with a traveling pilot as usual most of the time.

There will be a total walkout and the flying public will support the unions and pilots.

The workload on a single airline pilot during the approach and short final during a significant crosswind (one that’s still within OPL), would be an invitation to disaster. The single pilot would have to be both the PF and the PM. In a true emergency situation the inevitability of a crash would likely approach 100%. The FAA/NTSB have too many investigations in their files that invalidate the idiocy of such a proposal. We haven’t had a major airline crash in the US since Colgan Air in 2009 that killed 49 souls on the plane and 1 on the ground. I’d bet the FAA/NTSB would like to keep that streak going. A single pilot in an airline cockpit is not a way for that to happen.

Stupid is as Stupid does!!!

Not a problem! During an emergency, the one pilot will just have to fly the plane while simultaneously managing the written checklists and procedures!

No biggie! Just start recruiting for flight school automobile drivers that can simultaneously read Facebook on their phones!

ABSOLUTELY NOT! That's removing the most vital safety need on any plane!

take some grammar lessons. there? you mean their.

Attention passengers, does anyone know how to fly a plane?

Also, get rid of all those automated safety features cluttering up the cockpit.

I wonder if they'll still think it's an effective cost savings after they have to pay out a several hundred lawsuits from fatal crashes that would likely have been avoided had two pilots been up front.

Some short hops in aircraft that hold less than 15 passengers OK one pilot is enough. But anything longer than an hour or more then 15 passengers is a big NO for me.

Don’t be a Luddite! Years ago the typical airline crew was comprised of a Pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, and radio operator. The prevailing thought at the time was operating a flight with fewer than a five man flight crew was suicide. Well we now know that presumption was erroneous. You can’t stop the March of technology. Single person flight operation will occur, at some point in our future. My recommendation is that they start with cargo operations and as the technology is refined integrate it into passenger operations.

They should get rid of one of the engines as well, then they can remove 1 electrical system and 1 hydraulic system also. Imagine how much weight and fuel they'd save without them.

Just this week we had an aircraft return to the takeoff location when the Capt became incapacitated, and subsequently died, on arrival at the hospital.

Would "single pilot aided by automation" have, correctly diagnosed the situation and returned to land vs "continued to destination" ensuring the incapacitated pilots death? (In the cited case, he died anyway!)

What if it is an incapacitated passenger instead? Would they just bang on the cockpit door and hope the solo pilot could deal with the issue.

The "consequences of failure" and the "time to first responder arrival" are all much less in situations in transit systems where automation has worked successfully. Examples include BART in SFO.

So dumb idea

There are all kinds of dumb, but this has got to be near the top of the list of ideas that should never get off the ground.

That would be a big NEGATIVE. I'll drive myself & take my chances avoiding a drunk driver.

I already don't trust airlines and now they are trying to make sure I never fly again.

So what happens when the solo pilot has a SADS incident from the you know what, while flying?

It is an absolute lie when airlines say safety is their top priority. They'd gladly crash more planes if it saved a few bucks.

There won't be anyone to see the pilot SLEEPING

No.

This would actually be worse than fully autonomous flights.

Absolute IDIOCY! Single pilot IFR in a complex aircraft is seriously challenging. Can't imagine doing it with 200 people riding in back with you.

Lunacy!

Rail has only one engineer. They used to have a crew of five!

Worst. Idea. EVER.

If they can remotely pilot a vehicle into lunar orbit and then back to earth, remotely flying a plane from Chicago to Atlanta should be a piece of cake.

People gladly get into unmanned Taxis now. And the pilots ride the driverless trains out to the concourses. There will continue to be two pilots monitoring flights but the other guy will be on the ground. This will begin with the cargo airlines. Already, FEDEX is testing a UAV Caravan for feeder service. Get ready, it’s coming.

Not no, not hell no, f**k no. This is a truly stupid idea.

Unfettered late-stage capitalism.

Plain ... and.... Simple

I am a retired Airline Pilot of more than 30 years flying for a major airline. Again I see MONEY being considered over the safety of the passengers. If the airlines could, they would be flying everything with out any pilots!! Of course there way of thinking is computers can take care of everything so know need for a human at the controls. Wrong!! Computers fail!! Nothing has replaced the human brain! Lot of passengers aboard our planes these days! Hugh loss of life when one goes down for computer failure! Once this happens, the carrier with the human pilots will get the majority of the business.

Bad idea and the outcome even worse!

To 'cut costs'?? Well, that's the cover story.....when the industry has a pilot SHORTAGE, due to having been forced to get 'lethal injections'. Those that haven't, yet, dropped dead, are severely injured.

On domestic flights I suspect that the people who are pushing this are either Greyhound Bus companies or maybe the people who are trying to expand the American railroad network. But wait - don't trains have to have 2 people in the locomotive in addition to a dead man's switch.

Try watching Airline Disasters on the history channel. It almost makes me not want to fly now. One pilot? I think not.

Bad idea. Look what happened on that Envoy flight a few days ago. Didn’t hear? Captain incapacitated and later died. FO handled things, not an FA and not a passenger.

If I am not mistaken, didn't we just have an incident with a pilot having some serious problem and the copilot taking over and landing? As I recall my reaction was to laugh at the news because they were making a big deal about the copilot making a perfect landing, trying to treat it like the cases where a non-pilot had to take over and land a small plane. What they seem to be trying to do here is eliminate that redundant safety. It seems to me like they are setting up that private aviation situation with an ATC trying to talk someone who is not qualified through the landing of a huge aircraft while sitting 3 stories above the runway, at 180 knots, with around 200 or more passengers. Not someones wife whose husband just died at the controls of a small plane while sitting maybe 4 feet above the runway and with a 50 knot stall speed.

In the last two and a half years, many Pilots were forced to take the EXPERIMENTAL COVID Jab. We are now seeing pilots passing out, having heart problems and other incapaciating illness while flying because of the Jab.

If there are five pilots, and none have extensive manual reversion training there are zero pilots on the flight deck...

No way if that happens I will never fly again,

Even a "one pilot" cargo aircraft would be a threat to those on the ground if the pilot became incapcitatated.

Germanwings 9525.

I rest my case.

NFW!!!

I'll just leave this here:
https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-who-became-incapacitated-during-flight-dies/

Maybe there should be a back-up alarm clock in the cockpit.

Yet another very bad idea by the Globalists/WEF as they advance their Great Re-Set. The woke corporations have an easy connection to get their ideas pushed through, in the interest of efficiency, of course. But my first argument would be the high risk. The FAA has been aware for a few years of the numbers of myocardial infarctions that are now up about 700% in ALL age groups since we the sheeple received those COVID vaccines, as well as a sharp rise in people just suddenly dropping-dead for no apparent reason. Part of the reason the FAA very gingerly handled the whole vaccine issue when it comes to airline pilots. It's all documented. Everybody knows it's going on. Nobody wants to face the reality that none of us really know what we have been injected with, and, what it's long term effects may be. The mainstream media, however, does not report on any of it.

Even so, the prospect of a medical emergency ,notwithstanding, there is no substitute for another pilot. I do not doubt that the day will come when pilotless aviation is going to be normal ops, but, I don't think we are ready to go there yet.
At least not mentally.

No Thank You. I will take the bus if I want a single driver.

So Air Force One captain will not have a co-pilot to save money when FAA approves this?

This is the worst idea ever. But watch it will happen with Cargo Carriers first. I will simply stop flying as a passenger if this happens. Yes it will curtail my lifestyle but I will not fly with one if the legacy or regionals if it is a 1 pilot operation.

Hell no.. I won't go... but I'm old and retired so I don't have to do anything I don't want to do...

That is a wonderful way to save money-------Until it isn't.

Absolutely the worst idea I have ever heard. Something happens to the pilot and 500 people instantly dead. There wouldn’t be a shortage of pilots if they hadn’t fired those who refused the jab.

IMHO, this is driven by financial performance. Everything else, including safety, is secondary. Full stop.

I’ve seen more comments here about cost cutting than pilot shortage. I would like to think the latter opens an opportunity for the airlines to turn every flight into a training flight with an FO who is a freshly minted Commercial pilot with instrument rating looking to get a type rating under/with an experienced ATP - on the job training, rather in SIMs. Half a decade of that and the shortage will disappear. 2 stripes to start, 3 when they’re on their way and graduate to 4. Downvote me if you want, but see opportunity rather than danger and encourage the consideration of the idea and it’s potential.

The article quotes a Chinese source as stating in favor of single pilot operations and ground controlled takeoff & landings. The Chinese are a trusted source???.

So much for CRA and it's benefits proven daily in the real world of flying. Time to get bean counters out of management of airlines.

The safety culture in airlines that support this move is broken. Don't let the bean counters run anything that is safety related.

The aircraft manufacturer creates a document called a Type Certificate Data Sheet. This document is required by the FAA and states all the requirements for certification. In this document it lists the required number of crew (pilots). This determination is made taking into account the complexity of the aircraft and pilot workload. Granted, some long international flights where a lot of the time the flight is in Remote Oceanic airspace there may only be one pilot in the cockpit. They carry "Cruise Pilots" that can only be in command during cruise. This is done so the crew that will be performing the approach and landing will be rested and fresh.

In the future there will be one pilot but in some office building somewhere will be another pilot that has the ability to take over and fly the aircraft should something happen with the aircraft pilot. Just as they now fly drones this pilot in the office building will be monitoring 6-8 aircrafts in flight. Should he be needed all his attention will go to that aircraft and the rest of his aircrafts will be picked up by another just like ATC does in an emergency. Like it of not, it is the future.

No. Bad idea. Safety loses.

FWIW - they already have flights with 1 pilot. I've flown several commercial airline flights with only 1 pilot. I guess someone did a cost/risk analysis and decided where the line was to require 2 pilots. Those flights had only 8-9 passengers. But I will say, as someone who sets in the back, I do prefer knowing (on the larger aircraft) there are 2 pilots up front (who each could fly the plane manually if required).

Anyone interested in going beyond the headline should read the ICAO paper at https://www.icao.int/Meetings/a41/Documents/WP/wp_101_en.pdf

Two people thinking/cross checking each other is clearly a safer environment than one person by themselves. Everyone makes mistakes at some time. The other person is there as an active cross check to prevent mistakes from turning into problems. Ask any Pilot if we have ever made any mistake. Everyone has stories. Many times the mistake was not an issue with controlling the aircraft rather an issue in judgement that could have been mitigated with a conversation, that is the principle of cockpit resource management, a practice which has been proven to enhance overall safety. Automation may help to minimize safety gaps but there is a history of automation inducing safety problems of a different nature. It takes a combination of people and automation to achieve adequate safety to conduct daily scheduled airline operations..

The AA commuter flight out of ORD this week would have crashed just after takeoff if that one pilot was the one who had the cardiac arrest.

Guess what, I'll pay the extra what $7 or $8 dollars per passenger to keep the second pilot up there. Ridiculous to have sole pilot operation, due to temporary illnesses or ongoing medical issues. Bean counters are way out of line here!

The Pilots and their unions will never let this happen.

This evil and stupid idea gains traction because the twits in the Front office decided to fire all the crew who refused the clot shots. It'd pure evil.

are they stupid? where is the commonsense in that, if pilot ill who takes over, stupidity and could not care attitudes, this make excess monies is a killer.

Unbelievable stupid idea. I am no pilot but even I know that the critical issue is safety and that during an emergency the pilots workload increases tremendously. One pilot simply could not cope... and when you are in the air, you don't get a second chance... you have to fly the aircraft and get it safely on the ground... it is pure accountant-speak to think this is a safe or intelligent idea.

It would lower costs and ease pressure from crew shortages, but placing such responsibility on a single person at the controls is unsettling ...

If accepted, the one-pilot setup would in the cockpit lower costs besides helping airlines to cope with the flight crew 📞

This is when penny pushers should be lined up and shot.

NO I'LL NEVER FLY IN A COMMERCIAL PLANE WITH ONLY A CAPTAIN
AIRLINES MUST STOP ✋ PUTTING PROFITS 📈 BEFORE SAFETY
SOON AIRLINES WILL WANT TO REMOVE CABIN CREWS FROM PLANES AND REPLACE THEM WITH ROBOTS 🤖

less staff to pay, are price tickets going to go down?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/just-pilot-dies-suddenly-collapsing-shortly-takeoff-chicago-airport-audio/

nuff said

Otto The Auto Pilot not going to be on any flight

Two is one and one is none.

Flew for AAL. We had a captain die on short final. Only one pilot, NO WAY.

THIS is exactly why making a change like this is beyond irresponsible and unacceptable.

This just happened on November 19th. R.I.P. Captain Ford!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-hJtF9qPyY

AF 447 doesn't seem like a good example of how multiple pilots could save the day...although they SHOULD be able to.

Unless two in the front office, I won't fly.

I'll take "World's Stupidest Ideas" for $1000, Alex.

The camel's nose is under the tent here with regards to full automation.

Airlines….it is the CFOs. Cramped seats, crapy service. Now. Single pilots. I guess they don’t care about safety. ONLY GREEN/greed. Who will fly when the pilot becomes sick or worse….dies. Don’t say it wont….IT DOES EVERY YEAR. When they do succeed…. And your family member dies sue the crap out of them.

After 9/11 it is mandatory to have two people on the flight deck at ALL times. Even in the EMB145's and J41's I was FA on. When one pilot had to "take a break", I would fill in. Of course I can't fly the aircraft, but if something was to happen to the other pilot I would be there as a stopgap by the time the other pilot returns. For my part I would be on the radio and running down the checklists. Luckily, I never had to do that.

Granular pushing flight ✈️ to cockpit with only one pilot 👩‍✈️ to cut across most especially by a single person

Idiocracy the general public won’t understand some might still fly , but it is crazy. They would be cutting off they’re own noses to spite they’re face. They will loose businesses and possibly lives!!
VJL

From reading numerous accident reports over the years I've concluded that even two pilots is not enough during an emergency. There are simply too many critical tasks to quickly handle during an emergency. I don't see technology changing that anytime soon.

This is INSANITY!

In December 2021 WestJet experienced two inflight pilot incapacitations on two separate flights (within a few weeks of it becoming MANDATORY for Canadian pilots to have two injections of the experimental covid "vaccines").

Had there been just one pilot in the cockpit and he/she became incapacitated the aircraft would have crashed eventually killing hundreds of passengers.

How can such an INSANE proposal be justified? Who would be stupid enough to fly on a commercial airliner with just one pilot flying behind an impenetrable cockpit door if something goes wrong?

What are they smoking? If this happens, I will not fly!

Terrible idea. CRM is important to PAX, crew, carriers and general population as a whole. SMH

As we move toward aerial operations with no pilots, single pilot operations are inevitable.

This is a horrible idea and will come around to bite the tight wadded carriers if allowed to happen. I plan to NEVER take a commercial flight with only one pilot.

short sighted siliness maskcarading as fiscal sensibility. It is a dangerous supposition that says one pilot is always going to be a safe operation. The world of aviation does not exist to make accountants happy, and the FAA would be remiss to support this crazy innovation.