“We are potentially removing the last piece of human redundancy from the flight deck,” Janet Northcote, EASA’s head of communications, wrote in an email. Advances in technology gradually made the last three positions redundant. In the 1950s, commercial aircraft cockpits were more crowded, typically with a captain, first officer or co-pilot, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator. Automation, technology and remote assistance from the ground would somehow have to replace the expertise, safety and immediacy of a second pilot.Īviation has been moving toward this point for decades. It’s not yet clear what would happen if a lone pilot collapsed or started flying erratically. The planned changes bring many challenges. Lucas, a check and training captain, also worries about the lost opportunities to mentor junior pilots if flight crew are working increasingly on their own.
