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Old 12-21-2014 | 06:57 AM
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rickair7777
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From: Engines Turn or People Swim
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Originally Posted by dynamic psi
This will happen as soon as they can figure out a way to accommodate a single pilot operation and also allow said pilot to go visit the lav while still maintaining positive control of the aircraft... thinking #2...
Yes. While they could always put the lav in the cockpit (or just make the pilot seat a camping potty), any single-pilot airplane would essentially have to meet ALL of the requirements of a no-pilot airplane since the occasional pilot incapacitation is inevitable.

My guess is that cost of single-pilot airplane technology will never be low enough to justify getting rid of the lower-paid FO. Single-pilot planes will be skipped until the technology is ready for no-pilot airplanes...although the first no-pilot airplanes will likely have a single pilot onboard as a backup until they get most of the bugs worked out.

It's going to take a very long time for the technology, at the appropriate level of reliability, to become cheap enough. That part about reliability is the real kicker...anyone familiar with military UAS reliability knows what I'm talking about. The military was perfectly willing to crash a bunch of big RC airplanes in order to get more cameras on target for longer. While airline management would probably feel the same way, the traveling public won't...
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