I would feel uncomfortable on a commercial aircraft with just one pilot.
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Iâve flown many times of flights with only one pilot. Single engine floats mostly.
Itâs ironic that many recent incidents were caused by âpilot errorâ.
100% sure that one pilot makes worse decisions than a team of two. But of course, the computer ⌠would have flown Sullyâs plane back to LaGuardia.
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A computer wouldnât have flow Sullyâs plane through a flock of geese.
Sure 
As I recall, a single pilot intentionally flew a commercial flight full of passengers into the side of a mountain after locking out the other pilot.
There should never be a time, at least for a commercial flight, where there are less than two qualified individuals on the flight deck.
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which would mean there should be at least 3 pilots onboard, you know pilot also have to use toilet sometimes
Michael OâLeary (Ryanair) once quipped that a flight attendant could function as the back-up pilot. The Pilotâs Union retorted that they would make a better replacement CEO.
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Not necessarily, many flight attendants are considered qualified while not being full pilots.
And the role of that third person isnât necessarily to fly the plane, itâs to make sure the other real pilot can get back in.
A computer wouldnât have done that.
I think bowlie has been replaced by a computer. To increase his householdâs profitability.
No personal digs please.
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Tell me you donât work in IT without saying you donât work in IT.
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Ask my computer.
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You only need one. The other can be an emergency inflatable* one:
*Looking for this image in Chrome, I nearly typed âblow up pilotâ rather than âinflatable pilotâ but realised this may have triggered various alarmsâŚ
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Currently, larger jets simply arenât engineered for general use by a single pilot. Even when there are no passengers or cargo aboard, it isnât considered legal or safe to fly solo. Now, if one pilot is incapacitated, of course it is meant to be possible for the second pilot to get the plane down⌠but that pilot will be busy and ATC will be giving them special treatment.
Some biz jets are rated for solo operation, and smaller stuff will be also. In the GA world âcommercialâ means paying customers and it isnât odd at all for an air taxi operator or similar to run a single pilot, so long as that pilot has the correct license for paid work.
So realistically, this is more of a âslipery slopeâ concern, with larger and larger planes being rated for solo use over time - with better controls and automation and such to make this possible - rather than a fear that in a year or two airliners will have single pilots.
Nothing is going to happen overnight and, when it does, it wonât be a big bang but a slow transition. For example recently a co-pilot on a flight from Scotland to the US was arrested because he had a taser in his hand luggage. As the airline didnât have a crew base there the airline couldnât find another pilot so the flight was cancelled.
So 150, or so, passengers couldnât fly as booked and had to be rerouted to their destinations. But thatâs not all, the aircraft had to sit on the ground until the airline could get two qualified rested pilots into the cockpit. Iâm guessing at least 18 hours. Meanwhile the airline is short of an airplane causing downstream cancellations. Potentially thousands of passengers could have been affected.
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Wouldnât it have been much better to have the remaining pilot fly solo getting the customers to their destination or connecting point?
Just one example, but these type of things happen every day.
They should have had contingencies and contacts in place to get a contract pilot,
especially if the return leg was from the US. There are tons of gigging pilots all over the US that could have taken the flight (for a hefty fee of course).
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You canât just take any pilot. They have to be type rated on that aircraft type and employed by that airline (for procedural and insurance purposes).
As for single pilot operations. No way Iâd fly with only one pilot, mainly due to the possibility of them becoming ill.
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Have you heard of them https://daedalean.ai/
I noticed them on startup ticker and was really skeptical about their success, wait what plane controlled by AI, you must be kidding! Yet it seems rolling. Today cargo planes, tomorrow autonomous passenger lines. Apart from the âAIâ buzz which made me frown upon the idea, I believe that itâs easier to made autonomous plane than autonomous car navigating in real city traffic.
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