Airline Pilot Central Forums

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)
-   Major (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/)
-   -   Single Operating Captain (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/86985-single-operating-captain.html)

cactipilot 03-12-2015 11:53 PM

:DI 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 :D

Flint Stone 03-13-2015 04:47 AM


Originally Posted by sulkair (Post 1842037)
News flash, you're not preventing A, or B from happening if that's what the guy next to you wants to do. For C. - sure you will make all the difference in this case.

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 03-13-2015 07:17 AM


Originally Posted by DENpilot (Post 1842056)
Never mind any terroristic scenario. The only thing that usually keeps my forehead from making contact with the glareshield during a 4 hour flight is the guy sitting next to me.

With single pilot operations, you're still asking a single pilot to:

-Stay alert and focused with no human contact for hours on end.
-Clear traffic/obstacles both left and right after push, during taxi out and taxi-in.
-Look for traffic in the air.
-Assume he's on the correct routing, taxi route, making the right real time calls.
-Tune radios, run checklists, talk to ATC, talk to FAs, talk to pax


AND MOST IMPORTANT:

This turns back years of progress on CRM by essentially making the CA "god" again, enabling him to make unilateral, real-time decisions with little to no input from others.

Will. Not. Happen.

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 03-13-2015 07:20 AM


Originally Posted by Rainbows (Post 1842046)
News flash, yes I am and i will.

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 03-13-2015 07:43 AM

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 03-13-2015 07:51 AM

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 03-13-2015 08:00 AM


Originally Posted by Flint Stone (Post 1842094)
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.

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

Mesabah 03-13-2015 08:32 AM

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 03-13-2015 09:10 AM

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 03-13-2015 09:18 AM


Originally Posted by encore (Post 1842198)
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.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:22 PM.


User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Website Copyright ©2000 - 2017 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands