IGh ......... Thank you for your imformative post, I wasn't aware of the studies in 78 and 81, I read them when I have time. It's interesting the timing just as CRM was begining to be phased in, following the IATA conference in Istabul in 1976 and and Eight Edition ICAO Annex 1.
I am stunned that the EU would even fund this project, it flags up all sort of issues, how would single crew captain gain experience through being a co-pilot, how much longer will the turnaround take, what if the captain needed the toilt, how could you possibly reach all the CBs, how would you monitor levels of arrousal (sleep and incapacitation, this would also make it impossible to cross check actions which is a fundamental, the list is endless and finally what if there was a pilot with a psychiatric problem as in Germanwings.
I'm sure Simon Calder, the travel correspondent, known for his view that pilots are overpaid, will bang on about the benefits to pax, without any consideration.
And finally, how much would this all cost, can anyone give a breakdown in terms of pilots salaries, fuel, land/ navigation charges, aircraft cost and maintence. I just can see there would be any significant saving. It all to similar to driverless cars.