The FAA reauthorization bill of 2024 brought many aspects of the aviation industry into question, with topics ranging from economic impacts to safety implications. However, something that was supposed to serve the best interests of both the aviation industry and the general public has proposed a wildly reckless, dangerous, and arguably lazy method to aid in the pilot shortage and cut down on labor costs, that being the proposition to reduce the number of pilots on commercial flight decks from two to one. This is something that should alarm not only people inside the industry, but anybody who has even flown anywhere. Aviation safety cannot and will not be compromised in the name of saving time or money so long as today's aviators use their voices.
The effort currently being led by Airbus, one of the top global aircraft manufacturers, seeks to replace pilots with automation, and has already gained support from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Rightfully so, the proposition has stirred much concern in the aviation community and has generated significant opposition from the Airline Pilots Association, a massively effective and well-known union in the aviation industry. ALPA President, Jason Ambrosi, had led an initiative to condemn the idea, stating, “In practice, reduced-crew and single-pilot operation schemes, like Airbus’s so-called extended Minimum Crew Operations (eMCO), are a gamble with safety—and a gamble with people’s lives," (Reed, 2024). Ambrosi's insight raises the question, why is a single pilot flight deck in commercial aviation so dangerous, and why must we oppose it for the safety of our industry and the general public?
Key points in the degradation of safety that come with a one pilot flight deck boil down to two things, those being reliability and the ability to exercise proper aeronautical decision making that would otherwise not be achieved by technology. Today's aircrafts are largely autonomous as is with the advanced autopilot systems in place, but like all things, these systems are prone to failure. When this statistically unavoidable failure inevitably occurs, there are two lines of defense left that maintain the safety of the operation, those being the captain and first officer. Not only would one be able to take over upon the other becoming incapacitated, but the high task load associated with abnormal, or emergency conditions is able to be delegated, and risks properly mitigated through crew resource management. To remove one of these pilots is to take out a vital line of defense between life and death of the souls on board. It threatens to leave one person completely alone or incapacitated during a significant system malfunction. We have two pilots in the cockpit for a very similar reason you see piston aircraft with dual magnetos- Should one fall, the other will perform in its place to keep your engine running and operation safe. Another fact of the matter is, no amount of artificial intelligence or automation on the flight deck can think outside of the box the way human beings can. Replacing years of experience, training, and insight that form proper aeronautical decision-making skills is something uniquely human and is what saves lives in the sky every day. One example is FedEx Flight 705, which suffered a hijacking attempt. While one pilot fought off the attacker, the other used his skills as a seasoned military pilot to fly a DC-10 like a fighter jet, helping to subdue the attacker and use G-forces to disorient him and thus move him further from the cockpit. The efforts of the pilots were ultimately successful and saved many lives that day. This is something uniquely human that cannot be supplemented with autonomous systems and was made possible by having two pilots on the flight deck that day.
Legislation that threatens the safety of the industry is such that should be fought swiftly and fiercely. Aviation is not the industry that can afford to cut corners, because such oversights result in the loss of life. Our current laws and practices are written in blood, and to proceed with eliminating pilots from the flight deck is to disregard the developments in safety that have been carefully cultivated to save lives. To help get involved and join in the effort to preserve two-man flight decks, reach out to ALPA today and see how your activism can help.
Reference:
Airbus Backing For Single Pilot Flight Deck Is ‘Insane,’ Pilot Leader Says (forbes.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment