Pilot groups raise alarm about the push for one-person cockpits on flights

To be sure, there are steep hurdles to significantly change crew sizes in major aviation markets. Under existing regulations, for example, manufacturers would have to prove that an accident due to a disabled pilot would be essentially impossible. — Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

Global pilot organisations called on regulators to continue requiring multiple aviators on commercial flights, saying that efforts to shrink to one-person crews risks passenger safety.

Leaders of groups including the European Cockpit Association and Air Line Pilots Association International on Thursday detailed plans to fight what they called a profit-driven push by some manufacturers and airlines to add technology that could replace human pilots. Airbus SE has conducted research with Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd to increase automation on the Airbus A350 to potentially allow a pilot to rest while leaving one person in the cockpit, according to Reuters.