European Pilots’ Post

Aircraft are built with every system having minimum dual redundancy by every aircraft manufacturer in the aviation industry, to change a philosophy or concept from two pilots to a single pilot it’s a removal of redundancy from flight deck operators placing safety at a huge risk if the only operator is unable to operate as a pilot due to any reason!

Remember Qantas Flight 32 from London to Sydney via Singapore on 4 November 2010? The Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.  It landed safety... Just like insurance, 2 pilots in the cockpit is similiar to buying insurance.   If you have an incidient you want assurances to be in place.    When the day arrives with single piloted aircraft, as a passanger, I would pay an incremental surcharge for 2 pilots.  Like everything in today's world, there are costs; and if there is a market for 2 piloted aircraft, there will be a supply.

the subtitle is pointing to the wrong target , naming planemakers are asking for this ‚feature‘ but is it the airlines and travelling public asking for less costs and that is basically driving the idea If airlines find passengers willing to pay more for a second pilot, fair enough. But we do experience differently: price mainly drives passengers choise, so cheaper ticket with a remote co-piloted flight will come, we like it or not I am old enough to remember the same discussion when reducing from 3 to a 2 crew cockpit, erasing the flight engineer….same situation technology developed further and this would enable reducing the crew. I am sure we will see the reduced crew operations, do we have to accept this, no! Finaly, it is up to the customer, the passenger, to decide and push for or against…

The technology for pilotless aircraft already exists, is tested and improves by the day, Determination of the risks involved in single / zero pilot cockpits is no longer subjective. Unfortunately these adverts do not provide the objective data upon which a flying public can make an informed opinion. You can be assured that EASA will not approve new Certification Standards until they have been tested & demonstrated to equal or improve the safety levels of CSs being replaced, which they will. But single pilot cockpits are not coming soon, Pilot jobs are secure til the end of the current gen aircraft production run, plus 20 years. SOPs, skill sets, training, for the next generation of pilots will be different. Be they crop harvesters, vacuum cleaners, space x rockets or aircraft, we must accept that the way we operate machines continues to evolve. Make no mistake, pilots have contributed so much to Aviation, in some cases with their lives, for which we are eternally grateful. However time stops for no man & as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it...change is the only constant...So when a single pilot announces leaving the cockpit to answer a call of nature, the greatest risk involved may be from whether they wash their hands.

- when you make it possible to override an aircraft remotely then that will be abused by malicious actors - to prevent pilot suicide scenarios like we’ve seen in the past you need two pilots in the cockpit at all times

Like it or not technologies evolve and will be integrated into our sector. Planes had flight engineers not so long ago. See any around now? As long as it's safe then we will have to embrace it and use the tech. Human error is the biggest reason as to why we have accidents. Not the aircraft systems.

⚠️THIS⚠️ Many years ago I was a new FO on a 757 on vectors to ILS final 22 at KLGA when the Capt looking unnaturally pale and sweating suddenly said “I have to use the lav and can’t fly”, hits the FA call button 3x and bolts from the flight deck leaving me expectedly single piloting an airliner with close to 200 souls onboard. Quickly had to make the call on delay or continue and land. Prudently decided to break off the approach and take delay vectors off the arrival and hold until I had more information, could consult dispatch, possibly expand my team with off duty crew. Fortunately we had adequate fuel reserves where I was not forced into a compressed decision timeline. While I was prioritizing tasks and planning for a possible single pilot right seat landing, after apx 15 minutes the Capt was able to return to the flight deck and we were able to continue and land. Had another time in the military where a crewmember developed food poisoning and was incapacitated for the duration of the flight. Happened to me on an augmented crew on a flight out of Cairo. I would not want to be on an aircraft where it was single pilot and this happened no mattter the level of AI, automation, etc.

Slowly this kind of campaign to promote a minimum of two pilots in the cockpit is getting out of hand. It only helps to scare the flying public into wondering how many pilots are on board at the very moment when they are flying on vacation, etc. Today, every commercial airliner is certified to fly with a minimum of 2 pilots. So there is no need to scare people with unrealistic scenarios based on today’s commercial jets. In the future, new aircraft will be designed, built and certified to fly with a single pilot or AI in the cockpit, that is tomorrow, but NOT today.

I can't. The other day I had food poisoning and most of the return leg I was incapacitated vomiting in the toilet. Luckily, I gave the controls to the first officer. Can you picture a scenario where we have no one to rely when things to south? I can't.