They have their heads in the clouds
JOHN ANDERSEN has spoken to a retired pilot, with 45 years experience of flying, about plans to downsize cockpits to one pilot.
HOW would you feel when next flying to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne if there was only one pilot up the front.
What if you were going overseas? Airlines might be stretched after the pandemic, but will they get away with their plans to whittle the number of pilots in control of passenger aircraft down to one?
Former *Townsville resident Captain Richard Broomhead was a senior international Qantas pilot for 45 years.
I asked him what he thought of a possible move towards one pilot cockpits. After reading Capt Broomhead’s response I doubt you’ll ever want to fly again if airlines get their way with the one-pilot push. Remember that hilarious 1980s movie, Airplane? Well, suddenly it isn’t funny anymore.
By Captain Richard Broomhead (retired) We were about to start the engines of a Qantas Boeing 707, sitting on the tarmac at Sydney and I was part of a four man cockpit crew on my first trip to London in 1969. I had not experienced long range international flying previously.
Four days later, we had left London southbound, and after refueling stops at Rome and Cairo we were flying over the Saudi desert on our way to Bahrain, when I felt myself losing consciousness. I just couldn’t keep awake. I had tried a quick dash to the crew toilet, to splash water over my face, but it had little effect, and I struggled to stay awake until we landed. As the Captain passed me on his way out of the cockpit, he smiled and said to me, “told you son”.
Anyone who has ever travelled overseas will have experienced this effect of circadian rhythm desynchronization, commonly known as jet lag. Airline crews experience it all of their working lives –when you go to a destination far away, and when you return home. As a Captain, I have been on the crew bus on the way to the airport in London to fly the night flight down to Singapore, turned around and seen all 20 crew asleep. This was going to work, not the end of a hard day.
Although large airliners carry three pilots, and rotate one member at a time to the crew rest bunk, the other two on duty are invariably fatigued. Qantas doctors used to tell us we would be operating at 30 per cent efficiency coming out of London, so it was and is essential crews perform at Standard Operating Procedures, where everyone knows what the other is doing. They use (legally) ‘controlled rest ‘ to combat this fatigue, where one pilot puts their seat back and
After reading Capt Broomhead’s response I doubt you’ll ever want to fly again if airlines get their way with the one-pilot push
sleeps for say 30 mins while the other one operates the aircraft, and then they swap duties. But the solo operating pilot is also dog tired, and has to really concentrate to stay awake and operate efficiently. I wonder how many passengers realize this as their Airbus 380 is flying at eight miles a minute through crowded airspace over Europe.
During the Second World War, RAF heavy bombers carried only one pilot. If that person was killed or severely disabled by flack or fighter gunfire, the rest of the crew had to bail out, or if the pilot had lost control of the aircraft they all died with him.
Domestically, within Australia, our airlines operate with two pilots. But they too can face fatigue problems. There are statutory limitations on the number of hours a pilot can fly. They are 100 hours a month or 900 hours a year. That doesn’t sound much, but that does not include the flight preparation etc. After a few months of max flying a pilot starts to suffer from fatigue. You can also get jet lagged flying from the east coast to Perth and staying overnight. Coupled with sleeping in strange hotel beds every overnight and eating restaurant food which may cause problems, it doesn’t take much to start feeling unwell, and still have to operate the next day. Crews feel obliged to ‘carry’ another pilot feeling a little off colour from bad food or a sugar hit , rather than ground the flight and inconvenience the travelling public. There is no spare pilot sitting around the office, to substitute the one feeling unwell.
The claim that modern day aircraft fly themselves and autoland is rubbish. To autoland the equipment on the ground has to be of the same high standard as that in the aircraft, and each landing runway has to be so equipped. It is expensive to maintain. There are few autoland runways in Australia, as we do not have the snow and fogbound airports of a European or North American winter. It also needs almost calm conditions. The worst conditions a pilot can land in are heavy rain with strong crosswinds at night. This takes considerable skill and it is something no autopilot can handle.
The problem with single pilot operations therefore is not so much gross inefficiency or mismanagement, but fatigue and illness.
Fly on aircraft with only one pilot? I’ll be driving thank you, or going by ship.