Airlines are trying to get rid of co-pilots to save cost. Do you agree with such idea and would you fly again if there's only on pilot on board?

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

https://www.abccolumbia.com/2022/12/09/airlines-lobby-to-change-federal-regulation-requiring-co-pilot-in-cockpit/

[ObscuredBeyond]

They keep having pilots die suddenly, because they forced the pilot to put Gray Goo Cyborg Venom in his arm and arteries, and of course they will have shortages.

Short-staffing a metal death tube in the air and acting like that's equal to short-staffing a Walmart is peak stupidity! I mean, either situation can turn deadly, but there's still no fair comparison.

It's as if the airlines were all run by sociopaths, and then one day decided that if snakes on planes won't get the job done like in the movies, then simple administrative messing around would suffice, and no one would complain.

But also unlike in the movies, we don't have an ample supply of magical black men that know how to safely land a plane due to messing around with a PS2 one time.

So it's like they WANT everyone dead!

[Static_In_The_Attic]

Seatbelts & airbags are required & maybe they should get rid of them to cut costs in the automotive industry. Getting rid of co-pilots, shame on them.

[RealMarek]

It’s a bad idea. They should just make the airlines reemploy the pilots who refused to take the ineffective corporate-mandated medicine with back pay. Problem solved.

[NamerOfStars]

So if the pilot suddenly keels over or gets killed by terrorists, there's no one to take over? Yeah, that's a REAL good idea there, airlines.

[abc3643]

I work in the aviation industry.

This is a very bad idea.

[Guy13]

Yeah but nobody is going to care. The country chose 😷 and personal economics and stays over the Bill of Rights. This isn’t even a “blip on the radar” for most people.

[NathanDavis]

hmm...

"if you want your flight to have a co-pilot, that will cost you extra..."

is this where they're going now? lol

[ArtemisSilver]

Ha, probably.

[msc545]

Absolutely not. The workload in IFR is too high, and a pilot emergency leaves nobody to fly the plane.

[BJP21]

With all the technology on a planes nowadays the planes can literally fly and land without the aid of an actual pilot.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Technology can malfunction.

[ArtemisSilver]

To be fair, it's the computer doing the majority of the work, but no it's still a bad idea.

[msc545]

The majority of the work is not all of it or even close in an emergency.

[ArtemisSilver]

Enough that autonomous air taxis will be commonplace in a few short years.

[msc545]

I doubt that. Do you have any idea how complex flying really is?

[ArtemisSilver]

@msc545 what might seem complex to you isn't that taxing for other people buddy.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

@Artemis: A risk I wouldn't feel comfortable at all.

[ArtemisSilver]

Your comfort isn't hugely relevant, what's relevant is the massive cost savings that companies will realize. Economics will make the decision for you.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Oh yeah... Well, let's see how much money they gonna make selling tickets with people knowing there's only one pilot on board?

[msc545]

Really. You have an IFR rating?

[ArtemisSilver]

Oh no the one pilot thing is stupid, people are more likely to accept a full ai pilot.

[msc545]

That was for my buddy @Artemis. I want to know if he has an IFR rating and if he flies IFR.

[msc545]

@Artemis because if you don't you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about.

[HeartFullOfGlue]

That sounds like a pretty bad idea

[Jamie05rhs]

That's a really fucking dumb idea.

[BLP11520]

Stupid stupid stupid

[dustybiker]

Heck no.

[dustybiker]

I don’t believe it’s even possible to do this… it takes three, no?

[dustybiker]

The controls require two, at least.

[SnowedIn]

It does not actually take two to fly the aircraft. It does take two to comply with regulations and the checks that are a result of the regulations but one human can fly a commercial airplane.

[dustybiker]

@SnowedIn are the controls dash a mirror replica of each side?

[SnowedIn]

The flight controls yes. Although technically not mirror as sometimes they're flipped but whatever flight controls are on one side can be found on the other. Common stuff is in the center pedestal. When there are two pilots in the cockpit, you'll often see slightly different information in the displays in front of them but these days in glass cockpits you can change the displays to have the same information on both sides. Again, better to have the second person to run checklists, avoid the workload becoming stressful on the pilot flying, and so forth, but a single person can still fly the plane and/or land, etc.

[dustybiker]

@SnowedIn Thanks for the info. I agree on the second pilot. Hey, is it only super tankers, etc. that have three pilots?

[SnowedIn]

@dustybiker ... you are very welcome. I am, by the way, so far from knowledgeable on this stuff. There are some folks here who actually fly, so they'd know better. If you're ever bored, there's a brilliant Airline Captain named Petter who has a YouTube (and other channels) called Mentour Pilot. It is brilliant. The other guy is a 747 captain and his channel is something like 74Gear or 74Guy, something like that. Just fascinating.

If about super tankers you mean the military plans that refuel fighters and stuff, I confess I am clueless. :) But, that actually makes sense using logic: the pilot flying and the pilot monitoring and then the 3rd person as a flight engineer.

[dustybiker]

@SnowedIn Oh sweet. Will look into it. Thank you.
It’s in my blood (but heavily before I was born). I would love to learn to fly.

[SnowedIn]

Go you! That's AWESOME!

[dustybiker]

@SnowedIn I haven’t done it yet. 🤪 I had to let a couple opportunities slip by. Hopefully one day.

[_Just_A_girl_]

Bad idea

[LiamJHayden]

Stupid