Cockpit crew representatives have asked Airbus’s leadership to reconsider its exploration of single-pilot operations, citing the recent IT-related air transport disruption as illustrating the risks of over-reliance on technology.
Three pilot associations – the US ALPA International, Europe’s ECA, and international federation IFALPA – have written to Airbus chief Guillaume Faury, highlighting the mid-July “technology meltdown” which resulted from a failed software roll-out by US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
“Fortunately, the safety and security of aircraft operations were not impacted,” the 5 August letter states.
“But the lesson here is the certain fallibility of technology and the necessity to consider technology as an assist to human professionals and monitored airline operations rather than replacement.”
The potential for reducing the number of pilots in the cockpit is the subject of research into initial concepts, among them extended minimum-crew operations, known as ‘eMCO’.
Under eMCO the flight duration is prolonged by allowing one pilot in a two-person crew to rest, leaving the other pilot in the cockpit during low-activity cruise.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which has devised test plans to examine the concept, says an equivalent level of safety is achieved by compensating with ground assistance, alleviation of workload, and advanced cockpit design which includes detection of incapacitation.
EASA says its research followed approaches by aircraft manufacturers over regulatory and safety aspects of reduced-crew concepts.
But the pilot associations’ letter to Faury states that passengers “expect safety to always come first”, and adds: “We respectfully request that you reconsider your current strategy around single-pilot operations – eMCO – and pursue a strategy that combines the best technology that we have with the resilience and security of two pilots in the flight deck.”
While technology has enhanced aviation safety, the letter acknowledges, it will “never replace” two trained and rested pilots in the cockpit during all phases of flight.
“Professional pilots and aircraft manufacturers have a shared duty to protect our passengers and crew members,” it concludes, adding that the three associations “will not relent on that duty, nor hesitate to demonstrate leadership in achieving it”.
