Io da qualche tempo lavoro alla UPS è questo concetto ha suscitato qualche perplessità tra i colleghi. Per ora si tratterebbe “solamente” di una proposta di studio.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed.../#21874da76bdc
A proposed study of single pilot cockpits for cargo aircraft, championed by a powerful congressman but viewed by pilots a threat to air safety, is facing obstacles.
The two-pilot cockpit is a key component of the safety infrastructure that makes U.S. commercial aviation perhaps the safest transportation system in the history of the world. Nevertheless, a provision that would enable a study of single-pilot operation of cargo aircraft remains on the table as part of legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration.
The legislation has cleared Congress and awaits a Senate vote. Last week, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents more than 60,000 pilots at 34 airlines, asked members to contact members of Congress and the Senate to express opposition.
Meanwhile, Congressman Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) is seeking to erode any impact from a single pilot study provision by inserting oversight language into the House transportation funding bill. The language, which provides guidance to agencies on how they should make funding decisions, has been unanimously approved by the house transportation committee; the bill awaits congressional approval.
“Pilot groups are pushing back really hard” against the concept of single pilot cockpits for cargo aircraft, said Lee Collins, president of the 33,000-member Coalition for Airline Pilot Associations, which includes single-airline pilot unions at American and UPS as well as pilots in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“We are getting way ahead of ourselves, trying to find a way to integrate drones and drone technology into our national air space system,” Collins said. “The industry that wants this is frustrated by the pace it’s going at and wants it to go much faster. It’s a giant power grab to increase bottom line profit margins for companies that have this technology.”
In a recent speech to ALPA leaders, ALPA President Tim Canoll declared, “At the eleventh hour and with no advance notice, a dangerous provision was inserted into the House FAA reauthorization bill by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee to push for single-piloted and computer-piloted operations of cargo airliners.