Airliners with one pilot?
 

SEATTLE - Boeing says it is looking at the concept that airliners in the future might have only one pilot on board, but beyond that the company is saying little.

Elsewhere, the Operationally Speaking blog by respected British aviation journalist and pilot David Learmount of Flightglobal says that the European Union and other elements of the European aviation industry are studying the same possibility.

The concern is that the rapid expansion of the world's airlines is exceeding the ability to generate qualified pilots fast enough.

What may allow safe and reliable one pilot jets is cockpit technology and the concept that a "co-pilot" could be ground based, much like U.S. Air Force drone pilots sit in an office, but are in command of unmanned aerial vehicles over Afghanistan half a world away. The multi-lateral one-pilot project would leave at least one human being on board an airliner.

Initially, the concept is that cargo airlines could test the idea first, with passenger airlines coming later - maybe. Everything is contingent on reliable back-up systems if the sole pilot on board were to ever succumb to a medical emergency aloft.

more at...


Airliners with one pilot? Industry is considering it | KING5.com Seattle

This is stuff you'd expect to hear from Ryanair..

I would sooner fly behind a single competent pilot than two (for example) that cannot fly retain control without airspeed for a few minutes.

I think that it will be inevitable as it will become more of a monitoring function than a hands on job. Still some time away though.

Big deal. Air India does it with no pilots.:)

Not sure how inevitable, as all safety critical systems have redundancy.

Even if a human being just becomes another part of that system that simply monitors stuff, it will still need redundancy ie. a back up human being in the aircraft.

Pilotless Jetstream
 

There are already single pilot operations on scheduled airlines.
 

OK, I'm being a bit provocative but I've flown on Aurigny Trilanders, Stewart Island Flights Islanders and a Cessna Caravan of Wings of Alaska each with only one pilot.

I too have flown on a Trilander but there's a lot of difference between a clockwork mouse and a Jumbo jet!

[COUGH]Bulls***[/COUGH] Tell that to the masses of unemployed pilots out there, whilst still more get churned off the pilot production line.

David Learmount and 'respected' in the same sentence? Really?

The 'pilot shortage' line was the first thing that got my attention.

I guess this is a lot more likely than the 'pilot-less' stories that seem to go around all the time, but as was mentioned earlier- isn't it just giving away one of the key double redundancies that airlines love to reference for safety?

To be honest even current airtravel is mostly done single pilot in reality. Up to 14 hours flight duty with just two pilots means that usually one of both is napping and the other one is trying very hard indeed to stay awake, doesn't always work out as the transavia incident a few months back showed. Doing the same with three pilots on duties up to 18 hours rostered (and 21 hours with disgression) just means the same, with the added bonus that one of them can rotate out to sleep in a bunk inbetween.

"...exceeding the ability to generate qualified pilots fast enough."

Which isn't true of course. However, it may exceed the supply of people willing to be a major source of income for the airline. Or working for peanuts.