“You have to be able to respond to a degraded situation. The pilots are there for that”

is to develop increasingly automated systems that will make flying safer. Automation has a positive impact on safety”, she stated, highlighting that commercial aviation had suffered no fatal accidents in 2017. At the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, as many as four or five people could be in the cockpit (pilots, mechanic, navigator, radio operator), before two pilots became the norm in the 1980s. On long-haul flights, however, the crew may be bigger depending on the flight time (three and perhaps even four pilots for very long-haul flights) and airline practices. On the North Atlantic route, for example, Air France uses two pilots while US airlines have three. Those advocating single-pilot cockpits question the need for two pilots in the cockpit during the cruise phase, “when it is essentially a matter of monitoring the systems”. Also, since flight crews will continue to see a share of their tasks relieved as time goes on, transferred to “the machine”, the presence of two pilots will no longer be necessary, but only in the cruise phase. “Perhaps in the cruise phase, but not for the more complex landing approaches” explains a sceptical test pilot. For advocates of SPO, having a single pilot in the cockpit during the cruise phase while the other rests would improve the management of rest times. “With two pilots on board, naps can be organised. Not all airlines have a tactical nap system. This is one element that airlines are looking at”, explains a representative of Airbus. They also claim that a reduction in the number of on-board pilots would enable each pilot to make more take-offs and landings and would avoid problems involving pilot competence, observed with larger crews on board. The airlines are obviously very interested in such a project, not just because those promoting it consider it to be safer, but also because it is cheaper since it reduces the payroll for pilots (€1 billion at Air France, representing a quarter of the airline’s total payroll, for example). It would also help to address the shortage of pilots in the world. According to Airbus and Boeing, airlines will need to hire more than 500,000 new pilots over the next twenty years. This shortage is also problematic for airlines since its drives up the salaries of pilots and, in certain parts of the world, leads to training issues. A little more time may therefore be needed to avoid upsetting their pilots. Older ones remember the reduction from three to two pilots in Air France cockpits back in the 1980s. “While we do have less to do during the cruise phase, we have to be ready to respond immediately to a dangerous situation. That’s what the pilots are there to do. Human beings have the ability to react and the sophistication that machines do not possess, although they do make mistakes”, explains an aircraft commander who wonders how a single pilot could manage a sudden, dangerous and stressful situation

AN AIRCRAFT COMMANDER

during the time it takes a flight commander to return from their bunk, particularly with respect to the principle of crosschecking. On top of this is are other issues for pilots that have little to do with flight safety. One main concern is how the pensions of flight crews in France will be funded. If there are fewer pilots “there will be fewer people paying in to the CRPN air crew pension fund”, explains one pilot. Switching to a single-pilot cockpit might well be the last step before autonomous planes. This is an issue that does not please pilots, even those less averse to SPO. While technology has helped to make air travel safer, its acceptance by passengers will be tested when SPO is introduced. The experts are therefore first looking to introduce it on cargo planes.