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Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

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Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#11

I'm not sure I'd want to travel on commercial aircraft if the regulators eliminate pilot redundancy.

If autopilot can control an airplane, then couldn't someone also pilot the plane remotely (as if it were a drone)? That would provide some pilot redundancy. I imagine airlines could also save money on staffing if the copilot didn't have to be physically present.

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#12
post #7

> American Airlines Capt. Michael Johnston died of a heart-attack mid-flight from Phoenix to Boston early Monday morning, his wife Betty Jean Johnston told NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/american-airlines-ca... So, if he was the only pilot in cockpit, everyone on the flight would have died too?

Perhaps they meant somewhere else in the plane

Cockpit is locked off?

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#13
post #7

> American Airlines Capt. Michael Johnston died of a heart-attack mid-flight from Phoenix to Boston early Monday morning, his wife Betty Jean Johnston told NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/american-airlines-ca... So, if he was the only pilot in cockpit, everyone on the flight would have died too?

Perhaps they meant somewhere else in the plane

… and where exactly would this second pilot be? The flight deck remains locked from the inside during flight post-9/11. There are a lot of concerns regarding two pilots, not just failure of one of the pilots but also mal-intent of a single pilot.

Eg: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#14

I'm not sure I'd want to travel on commercial aircraft if the regulators eliminate pilot redundancy.

-- interesting - total opposite for me - #1 cause of commercial aircraft accidents is pilot error - by a long shot - personally - looking forward to the day humans are not involved in flying an aircraft --

https://nci.edu/2021/06/08/the-most-common-causes-of-aviatio...

https://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oam...

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they meant somewhere else in the plane

… and where exactly would this second pilot be? The flight deck remains locked from the inside during flight post-9/11. There are a lot of concerns regarding two pilots, not just failure of one of the pilots but also mal-intent of a single pilot. Eg: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525

The other pilot is working from home.

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#16
Since we’re going to be talking about automation quite a bit here, I found Sully’s take on automation in the cockpit to be quite relevant:

> “I’VE COME across a number of people over the years who think that modern airplanes, with all their technology and automation, can almost fly themselves. That’s simply not true. Automation can lower the workload in some cases. But in other situations, using automation when it is not appropriate can increase one’s workload. A pilot has to know how to use a level of automation that is appropriate.” … “Whether you’re flying by hand or using technology to help, you’re ultimately flying the airplane with your mind by developing and maintaining an accurate real-time mental model of your reality—the airplane, the environment, and the situation. The question is: How many different levels of technology do you want to place between your brain and the control surfaces? The plane is never going somewhere on its own without you. It’s always going where you tell it to go. A computer can only do what it is told to do. The choice is: Do I tell it to do something by pushing on the control stick with my hand, or do I tell it to do something by using some intervening technology?” [0]

[0] Sully: My Search for What Really Matters by Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, Jeffrey Zaslow https://a.co/2iSmRDH

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#17

I'm not sure I'd want to travel on commercial aircraft if the regulators eliminate pilot redundancy.

-- interesting - total opposite for me - #1 cause of commercial aircraft accidents is pilot error - by a long shot - personally - looking forward to the day humans are not involved in flying an aircraft -- https://nci.edu/2021/06/08/the-most-common-causes-of-aviatio... https://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oam...

Better to have the final say come from someone at the controls rather than a desk in Silicon Valley. Humans aren't going anywhere.

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#18

I'm not sure I'd want to travel on commercial aircraft if the regulators eliminate pilot redundancy.

-- interesting - total opposite for me - #1 cause of commercial aircraft accidents is pilot error - by a long shot - personally - looking forward to the day humans are not involved in flying an aircraft -- https://nci.edu/2021/06/08/the-most-common-causes-of-aviatio... https://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oam...

No post body was provided.

Re: Airlines lobbying FAA to have only one pilot in the cockpit

#20

I'm generally anti-union, but happy to see the union here pushing back against this. This is definitely not in passengers' interests, and normally passengers don't have an advocate with any power, so it's nice to see our interests are aligned with the pilots' union.

Idk if this is an American/West thing but here unions are the main reasons why workers are not exploited and have rights.
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