Would you get on a plane where only one pilot will fly? Is that the future of aviation? The world’s leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus is developing the concept with enhanced automation to replace the second pilot. But pilots around the world are lobbying against it, they say removing the second pilot from the cockpit is a gamble with safety.
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00:00We're on board flight ECA-123 bound for Brussels.
00:08This is a fictional flight, but these are real seasoned commercial pilots
00:12demonstrating real scenarios they experience at high altitudes.
00:17Number two is running normal, but I would like to keep it that way.
00:21We're about to land when a message comes in from air traffic control.
00:25Go around the track.
00:27Positive climb.
00:29Gear up.
00:31Gear up.
00:33What you just saw here is the normal interaction between pilots at any given time.
00:40We usually do have one pilot flying and one pilot monitoring.
00:44Monitoring doesn't mean that you don't do anything else.
00:49We are sharing the tasks.
00:52For instance, if you have an instruction from air traffic control telling you to climb,
00:58the pilot monitoring will read back on the radio.
01:01It will acknowledge the instruction to climb.
01:04The pilot flying will then program the new altitude into the aircraft.
01:08Pilot monitoring will make sure that what has been done by the pilot flying is correct.
01:13And then we'll monitor the aircraft to see it react accordingly to what has been put.
01:19So it's a lot of inputs and it's always the constant cross-check.
01:22Global aviation rules require two pilots in the cockpit for all commercial flights.
01:27The regulation is based on the principle of redundancy, where there is a backup for every system in case it fails.
01:34This includes pilots.
01:36In fact, there used to be five pilots in the cockpit.
01:39There used to be a captain, a first officer, a flight engineer, a radio operator and a navigator.
01:49So we used to have five.
01:51And then as time went on and automation became more sophisticated, we were slowly able to eliminate some of those positions.
02:02Now Airbus, which is currently the world's top commercial airplane manufacturer based on aircraft delivered,
02:09is spearheading the move to remove the second pilot.
02:13So how does this work?
02:15In a concept referred to as Extended Minimum Crew Operations, or EMCO,
02:20Airbus is proposing two pilots in the cockpit during take-off for long-haul flights.
02:26In the cruise phase, the second pilot goes to rest in the cabin, leaving one pilot alone in the cockpit for hours.
02:34The second pilot returns for the landing.
02:39Airbus says enhanced automation would replace the second pilot during the cruise phase of the flight.
02:45Pilots in Europe say they can't believe Airbus has come up with this.
02:49I've been flying for over 30 years and when I speak to my colleagues, it is disbelief.
02:55Because there are so many aspects which require two pilots on the fly deck.
03:02It is, as I said, a gamble with safety.
03:07These aircraft are designed to be operated by two pilots.
03:12These airplanes are complex machines.
03:16They need to be operated in complex environments.
03:19Busy airspace, busy air traffic control.
03:23You can only do that with two sets of brains and four eyes.
03:27An Airbus representative gave this statement to DW.
03:31We believe that pilots will remain at the heart of operations
03:35and that automation can play a crucial role by assisting them in the cockpit and reducing workload.
03:42Thanks to additional automated functions,
03:45pilots can organize shifts where one pilot controls the flight while the other pilot rests.
03:51But experts are warning about what they say is over-reliance on technology in Airbus's plan.
03:58First of all, I think this is a tremendously bad idea, okay?
04:02As a safety expert, as an automation expert,
04:06automation is very, as we say in the automation business, dumb and dutiful.
04:12It will do as it's programmed.
04:14And when things change in the operational world, automation quite frequently doesn't know that.
04:28It's the pilots that are able to solve these problems.
04:31And what Airbus isn't telling everyone is there are an unlimited number of cases in there
04:40where it's pilots catching automation misbehaving.
04:47We just finished doing a project with the FAA examining automation problems
04:55that included both Boeing Airbus and Embraer aircraft
05:01where there are problems with automation.
05:05And it's pilots that are catching these problems.
05:09Engine master one.
05:11But what happens if something suddenly happens to the pilot alone in the cockpit?
05:16This report funded by the EU came to the conclusion
05:19that the possibility of the pilot flying suddenly becoming impaired
05:23is one of the big problem areas for Airbus's plan.
05:26It says incapacitation of the pilot flying is one of the main hazards
05:31that must be mitigated to enable the extended minimum crew operation.
05:36Some airlines are reportedly keen on the idea.
05:40In 2021, one of Asia's biggest carriers, Cafe Pacific, was reported to be developing the project with Airbus.
05:49The German carrier Lufthansa also worked on the concept, but a spokesperson said there were no immediate plans to use it.
05:55For a number of years now, some airlines have been quietly lobbying for the two pilot rules to be relaxed.
06:04The push regained momentum in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,
06:08where a global shortage of pilots saw airlines having to give in to union demands of big pay rises for their members.
06:16The question we ask ourselves also is what problem are you solving to the airplane manufacturers?
06:24It is clearly commercially driven.
06:27Airbus is a company which is very automation, new technology oriented.
06:33So for them it is an opportunity to create an aircraft which the other large competitor, Boeing, doesn't have.
06:40Boeing is not working on anything single pilot related.
06:45So they could have an aircraft which can do something which other aircraft cannot
06:50and maybe through that save some pilots on the flight deck.
06:56And that's a commercial drive for them.
06:59But of course it is driven by their customers, by the airlines.
07:03They want to save money to make more profits, whether it's ground staff or cabin crew or pilots.
07:11Less personnel is in their favour, so that's their drive.
07:16The regulator is considering the proposal.
07:19We as EASA, our role is about aviation safety in Europe and as part of that we have to evaluate the new technology that Airbus is developing.
07:32And if at the end of our evaluation assessment process we are convinced that these new technologies can be integrated safely in the cockpit
07:44and that they can bring safety value, we can approve them. We call that certification.
07:50But pilots say they don't see how being alone in the cockpit increases safety in any way.
07:57For me it really wouldn't be the same profession anymore if there's only one.
08:04There is one essential layer missing, that constant checking of myself.
08:11I know that I'm human. I know that I do make mistakes.
08:16And the best life insurance that I have as a pilot is a well trained other pilot next to me.
08:24The European Cockpits Association has launched a campaign they've called One Means None
08:30to lobby against Airbus' plan to leave one pilot alone in the cockpit.
08:35The question they are asking is, would you get on board?
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