Embraer planning to dump copilots!

Just think, currently we have ETOPS, Engines Turn or Passengers Swim, now with the prospect of single piloted RJ’s and the like we have PLOPD. Pilot Lives or Passenger’s Don’t!

I suggest Embraer would have more luck selling the airlines on there idea if their design “dropped the pilot”, but “retained the co-pilot”. That way the airline would “save even more money”!!!

Note that CRM with autopilot also could and should be improved.

Yes. Some say that cockpit automation should be thought of as an additional crewmember. Not fully in the terms of a human crewmember in my interpretation, but as an asset which can perform some tasks with better precision, help the crew with situational awareness, monitoring aircraft systems etc. And just as any crewmember its actions must be monitored by another. The pilots monitor each other and the automatics, the automatics monitor the actions of the pilots.

Note that CRM with autopilot also could and should be improved.

For example, take TCAS.

The pilots are told to obey TCAS resolution advisories without thinking and disobey ATC instructions when conflicting.

Since TCAS alerts are rare, they are unfamiliar with resolving them, in hurry because they have to shut down autopilot first, and they may overreact with the result that they collide with a third plane or cause unnecessary injuries to passengers and stewardesses because of high accelerations.

If obeying a TCAS resolution advisory is to be such an automatic move, an autopilot ought to be able to do this. Airbus has invented something like this:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/06/03/327310/airbus-reveals-a380-linked-pilot-systems-secrets.html

The concept of single pilot flying of airliners seems to go against the whole idea of CRM (crew resource management) which, amongst other things, emphasises the cross-checking of crew members’ decisions and the open questioning of each other’s judgement. CRM is said to have become an important part of improving aviation safety.

Agreed. With regards to civil aviation:

As far as I know, cockpit automation is fallible and does involve some limitations when it comes to e.g. interaction between human crewmembers and the system interface. It is primarily an aid, not a complete substitute for a human crewmember. I think the current automation philosophies of Boeing and Airbus reflect this.

E.g. “Automation can assist this process (gaining and maintaining situational awareness) but should be viewed as a tool, not as an end in itself.” -Boeing

I don’t have much relevant experience yet, but I think multicrew operations have clear benefits in relation to workload sharing, mutual monitoring, decision-making (can go both ways) and social company, to mention a few.

Going to a single pilot configuration for any sort of passenger carrying aircraft is, in my view, down right dangerous.
It’s not as if a passenger can take hold of the wheel and ease the aircraft onto a hard shoulder at 30K feet when the pilot expires or falls ill. (there seems to be a lot of that happening recently, no?)

If automation has taught us anything over the last few years, it’s that we cannot put our complete trust in it! Automation only works so long as the status quo goes unchanged and relies on being setup correctly in the first place!

What is the bigger issue – solo pilot large planes, or solo pilot longhaul?

Solo pilot longhaul, and two pilots longhaul, basically come to the safety of unmanned passenger planes…

Agreed. Single-pilot flying over longer distances does not sound sufficiently safe to me.

Certainly it does.

How frequent, in the fields where single pilots now fly (private planes and small commercial planes) are crashes due to solo pilot illness, as opposed to crashes due to solo pilot being overwhelmed and distracted by flying duties, or making stupid errors that a copilot would have corrected?

Probably only a comparatively small number are due to solo pilot illness I would imagine, but if solo piloting becomes more widespread in the airline industry, the frequency of it happening is of course going to increase.

I’m not sure this would be good PR for airlines that choose to operate single-pilot large aircraft.

The concept of single pilot flying of airliners seems to go against the whole idea of CRM (crew resource management) which, amongst other things, emphasises the cross-checking of crew members’ decisions and the open questioning of each other’s judgement. CRM is said to have become an important part of improving aviation safety. I guess it just depends how far technology can go in making concepts like CRM obsolete..

Technological advancements won’t do anything to stop pilots from suddenly falling ill, collapsing and even dying while flying. This does happen and so it would never really be safe for widespread commercial flights to be flown with one member of flight crew, regardless of the technology on board.

Certainly it does.

How frequent, in the fields where single pilots now fly (private planes and small commercial planes) are crashes due to solo pilot illness, as opposed to crashes due to solo pilot being overwhelmed and distracted by flying duties, or making stupid errors that a copilot would have corrected?

Still, don’t expect a single pilot RJ anytime soon…or even a bizjet above a certain gross weight.
Regulatory authorities are slow to adopt changes brought about by some technological advancements.

Technological advancements won’t do anything to stop pilots from suddenly falling ill, collapsing and even dying while flying. This does happen and so it would never really be safe for widespread commercial flights to be flown with one member of flight crew, regardless of the technology on board.

What is necessary to adjust a Legacy sized private jet for solo pilot? Or an Embraer Regional Jet?

So far as the RJs are concerned, insurance companies who are willing to cover airlines who perform single-pilot commercial passenger jet operations.

I’ll not be holding my breath while I’m waiting.

This is another one of those topics that has been simmering for awhile….I suppose the day will come eventually. IMHO, it is much more likely that the rules for long range flying will change first. For example, in the US, any flight over 8 hours in duration has to have an additional pilot and anything over 12 needs 2. During the Bush 41 administration a trial balloon was floated that would have extended those limits to 10 and 14, but it died.

Some Cessna Citations have been single pilot for about 30 years.
There had to be some minor rearrangment of instruments, nothing too major.

Still, don’t expect a single pilot RJ anytime soon…or even a bizjet above a certain gross weight.
Regulatory authorities are slow to adopt changes brought about by some technological advancements.

Example: Is SE Commercial IFR is still prohibited in Europe? Even though moderen turbine aircraft like the PC-12 , TBMs, Cessna Caravans are perfectly safe in IFR and have good safety records.