Met the country the pilots are opposed to plans by aircraft manufacturer Airbus, among others. It is investigating whether it is possible to reduce the number of pilots. That would save money, but according to the concerned pilots it is unthinkable – at least for the time being.
“It is our responsibility to bring our passengers safely to their destination, but at the same time we see that aircraft manufacturers are speeding up this project, which actually makes flying less safe,” says Camiel Verhagen. He is chairman of the VNV and a pilot at KLM.
“They want to roll this out as early as 2027, with the help of the European regulator. This development is taking place out of sight of the passengers, while preparations have already gone a long way behind the scenes,” said Verhagen.
Research
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is indeed investigating the safety of flying with only one pilot. This research is carried out by the Netherlands Aerospace Center (NLR). When asked, an NLR spokesperson confirms that this investigation is ongoing, but does not want to say anything about the content.
The current plans for flying with one pilot are still limited. For the time being, this only concerns parts of the flight. Two pilots should always be present at take-off and landing.
Currently, four pilots take turns on long intercontinental flights, taking turns. If two pilots did not always have to be at the controls at the same time during long flights, it may not be necessary to have such a double occupancy in the future.
Automatic pilot
That would be possible thanks to technological advances. The autopilot can take over more and more tasks from the pilot, but the VNV believes it is still far too early for experiments.
“As far as we are concerned, new technology is being introduced in the current and proven safety concept with two pilots,” says Camiel Verhagen. “This makes flying even safer. Technology must be introduced to reduce existing risks, not to replace the proven cooperation of two pilots in the cockpit.”
Professor Max Mulder is head of the Control & Simulation department of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft. According to him, the development towards one pilot has been going on for a long time, but in reality this step is still far away.
Logical step
“This development has been going on since the early 2000s,” says Mulder. “It is also a very logical development. We have gone from five people in the cockpit to four, three and now two. One pilot is the next step.”
According to him, the fact that it may take a long time before this happens has everything to do with safety. “That’s what aviation is all about. Every adjustment must be thoroughly investigated.”
According to Mulder, an autopilot can do a lot, but not everything. “The degree of automation on board is high. But you have to be aware that not everything is automated,” he says. “A lot of people think that an airplane is a kind of self-driving car. But it doesn’t work that way. There are many things that the pilot has to do, and that we cannot, do not want or are not allowed to automate.”
Human intervention necessary
The professor points out that something can always happen that requires human intervention. “There is always work for people on board, even if only if something goes wrong, someone has to intervene. There are a lot of things on board that can break. You need a person to turn a switch, or put out a fire.”
According to Mulder, flying an airplane is a lot of work. “You have quite a workload, especially when landing, especially in bad weather. And if it is busy at the airport and something goes wrong, for example a sick person on board, then that is actually too much work for one person. That’s why the second one is there.”
Camiel Verhagen also underlines the indispensability of a co-pilot: “Imagine that there is a sudden engine failure or another incident, then you are happy that there are two of you and not your colleague has to come from the rest room: sleepy, uninformed and perhaps too late.”
Sustainability more important
Mulder points out that although fewer crews could be an interesting development because of cost savings, there are much bigger and more important challenges for an aircraft manufacturer in the field of making aviation more sustainable. “That, in my view, is infinitely more important than this,” he says.
The professor thinks that fully automated flying, i.e. commercial flights without a pilot, will take decades to come, due to the high safety requirements. “I don’t think I’ll see it happen in my lifetime. I’m 56, and I hope to live a long time. But I predict it won’t happen in my lifetime.”
2024-02-06 05:25:14
#long #pilot #remain #indispensable #cockpit #intervene
