Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

Simple, an airliner certificated for one pilot would have systems in it that would detect if something threatened the safety of the flight (such as impending terrain, a command into the ground, etc). If this was detected, the system would revert control automatically to built in autopilot and ground control. This isn't rocket science, there are auto-driving cars and the Russians launched a space shuttle and returned it to earth with no pilots over 30 years ago. This would only be an "emergency backup" as well, but it would be needed in case the one pilot has a heart attack, or like in this situation, goes crazy. You can fight technology kicking and screaming, but it's coming. Just like auto-driving cars. As a society, we are begging for them, that's where auto-designers are spending their money in R&D right now. No one really wants to spend the money for increased training, more requirements, tests, etc, so the solution is to design the human out of the system.