cactipilot

I say NEVER underestimate the power of profit motive, and of course lobbyists that take skillful persuasion of the few people that really matter to the highest level of art, to do what is best for the almighty bottom line. I'd say it's easy to make a convincing argument to someone that 1 pilot ops for flights under 2 hours, perfectly great to try, and over that throw in a relief pilot? First airline to get the plan in action blows everyone else's socks off on profit, and now every competitor's CEO has to do it or watch his board replace him with someone who will. Yes- Start savin up for the trade school, my friends - at least you can't easily outsource a plumber

Flint Stone

I've got 40 reasons I can and would stop him or her if there're hell bent on using the aircraft as a missile of mass destruction! Catch my drift sulky.

erjpilot

You are missing the mark. Single pilot operations will only start once airliners are completely autonomous. They would be able to fly as drones however due to liability and to keep the public happy it will still require a pilot at the controls simply to monitor, therefore, the things you mention above wouldn't be too important.

Lastly, I realy hope this doesn't happen but technology is moving at a rapid clip and our jobs could be targeted.

ShyGuy

No you won't. Historically speaking in pilot suicide crashes (Egypt Air out of JFK and Silk Air enroute to SIN) the suicidal pilot waited until the normal pilot had to use the bathroom. Once the pilot was alone, he nosed it over and crashed.

encore

There will never be single pilot airliners. The pilot is either a critical system or he/she is not. If they are, they will have a redundancy onboard, just like every other critical system. If they are not, there is no need for them at all. If the airplane can be designed to safely function with a failure of the pilot (which will happen), then it doesn't need the pilot there in the first place.

There will be either 2 pilot airliners or pilotless airliners, but not single pilot.

CPZ175

I don't think it will happen anytime soon, but once the Millennials start reproducing, those kids (when they become adults) will not give a darn who or what is flying an airplane when you consider how much technology they will have already been exposed to at such a young age.

Since they will make up a majority of the flying public, I think airlines will have to wait until then.

sulkair

FFDO .40 cal - touché - I catch it Flinty.

Mesabah

There will be single pilot airplanes, however, there will never be pilotless 121 airplanes. The reason is data security; That's the function of a single pilot. If he passes out, that's a random occurrence, and will not affect safety.

For single pilot to work, the ATC system need to be reworked, and the FAA has to change certification rules. I think you will see regional airlines be single pilot sometime in the next 20 years, mainline will take longer.

Aero1900

I think that an entirely new generation of airliners will be required before we go single pilot/remote pilot/ fully autonomous. There will have to be a completely new atc system, an entirely new set of regs, and new aircraft. Those are big hurdles that will take a long time and a lot of money. Is it even worth it? To save the salary of two pilots... I kind of doubt it.

How long has the FAA been working on NextGen? How much has it cost? How tiny of a step is it towards single pilot or remotely piloted airlines? It all just seems so far off, not because the technology couldn't keep up, but the infrastructure, regulatory hurdles and pubic acceptance are massive obstacles with not much benefit.

I am way more interested in self driving cars. The technology for those is virtually 100% there. But it's still got such a steep hill to climb for all the same reasons pilotless airliners are so far off. that being said, I am not recommending my young children pursue this career.

rickair7777

Yes. I've been saying this for years.

The first single-pilot airliners will be full-auto airliners which will carry a pilot as a backup until they develop a proven track record.

Pilot incapacitation events are very real, and have increased significantly in recent years (wonder why?). Apparently it's so bad that the FAA doesn't publicly release the data for 121 incapacitation or so I'm told by a fed. Not why FOIA would not work though...

Autonomous airliners are about 100 years away IMO, and I have a pretty darn good understanding of systems engineering, AI, and regulatory issues.