Airlines push for lone pilot flights to cut costs despite safety fears

AIRLINES and regulators are pushing to have just one pilot in the cockpit of passenger jets instead of two. It would lower costs and ease pressure from crew shortages, but placing such responsibility on a single person at the controls is unsettling for some.

Over 40 countries have asked the United Nations body that sets aviation standards to help make single-pilot flights a safe reality.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has also been working with planemakers to determine how solo flights would operate and preparing rules to oversee them.

EASA said such services could start in 2027.

The plan doesn’t sit well with pilots. It’s a hard sell for passengers, too.

Tony Lucas, an Airbus SE A330 captain for Qantas Airways Ltd and president of the Australian & International Pilots Association, is concerned that a lone pilot might be overwhelmed by an emergency before anyone else has time to reach the cockpit to help.

That’s what happened on board Air France Flight 447 on its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro on June 1, 2009. With the plane cruising at 10,670m over the Atlantic Ocean and the captain resting in the cabin, the two co-pilots in the cockpit started receiving faulty speed readings, likely from frozen detector tubes.

By the time the captain got to the cockpit 90 seconds later, the plane was in an aerodynamic stall from which it never recovered. Less than three minutes later, it hit the water, killing all 228 people on board.

The planned changes bring many challenges. It’s not yet clear what would happen if a lone pilot collapsed or started flying erratically.

Automation, technology and remote assistance from the ground would somehow have to replace the expertise, safety and immediacy of a second pilot.

EASA said it is aware of concerns about solo flying and that addressing them is part of the process.

“These concepts will not be implemented until the aviation community is comfortable that operations will be at least as safe as they are today,” it said. — Bloomberg