Originally Posted by
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.
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.