I’ll never understand why, as a society, we’re so hell bent on putting people out of work. It’s already been said, but if true AI is realised, it won’t just be Pilots out of work. Given humanity’s history of “looking before they leap” we’ll have all these fancy self flying Aircraft with no one buying tickets because the population is unemployed and broke.
But I digress...
Currently I cant even leave old mate alone for 5 minutes to take a leak without a CC member supervising them. So Single Pilot + AI will be a very interesting discussion in terms of who’s actually in Command. The AI or the “Captain”.
Secondly, right now, there’ll be no shortage of Pilots suitably qualified to babysit the AI, having done their “apprenticeship” as FO’s. Once it’s all single Pilot, will kids be going fist “Solo” in an Airliner?
I've (hopefully) got 20 years give or take left in the saddle, and I can definitely see Long-Haul becoming 2 Pilot, single Pilot Cruise in my career, but Single (or no) Pilot is a ways off I imagine.
Ignoring everything else, I can see Liability being the big brick wall in this endeavour. When (not it) one of these fancy AI Aircraft crash, and the manufacturer can’t blame the Pilots, and the class actions start rolling in, and Airlines around the world are forced to ground entire fleets until the software is fixed, will it really be worth it?
Boeing and Airbus sell the Aircraft, they don’t employ the Pilots. How much liability are they going to willingly accept so their customers can save a few percent on operating costs?
If every other form of transport becomes fully automated during my career, I might start to worry. But given most trains still have drivers and they’re on tracks, I can’t see us being replaced in my lifetime.
Yes, single Pilot cruise is likely coming to Long-haul, and yes, the jobs going to get even more automated and tedious, but there will till be 2 Pilots up front for Takeoff and Landing.