Aerospace giants have been accused of putting profits ahead of safety as officials consider cutting the minimum number of pilots required on commercial flight decks from two to one.
The move, which is currently being evaluated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), would weaken standards to the “lowest common denominator”, the world’s largest union of airline pilots has warned.
“This threat is not something that is 10, 15, 20 years away,” Capt James Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents more than 78,000 pilots in the US and Canada, said. “It’s something that, quietly, Airbus, has been working on. It’s not what they are marketing it to be.
“The US has the safest aviation record in the world. We need to improve the standard for everybody, not just go to the lowest common denominator.”
This was 9 years ago. It’s a pretty good reason to have at least 2.
Then there’s the case of the pilot riding in the jump seat who had been taking magic mushrooms to deal with grief and depression, and genuinely thought the best course of action was to crash the plane. (he didn’t report his condition prior to resorting to elicit substances in fear of losing his career, which is a whole other rant. For those interested, this video goes more into that side of the story)
Granted he wasn’t flying (and didn’t try to fly, per-se), but I doubt that a single pilot could subdue someone who is tripping balls and keep a commercial airliner in the air simultaneously.
Or the many, many, many other cases that don’t make headlines in which a warm spare became imminently critical for the safety of hundreds of people (both in the air and on the ground). The reason they don’t get media attention is because “Situation on Plane Ended in the Good Way, System Worked as Intended” isn’t a headline that get clicks.
Hell, even aircraft themselves are built with redundancy for critical components. How in the fucking world could one even begin to justify not doing so for us squishy humans?
It’s not that this idea is just stupid, this idea is dangerously stupid.
I distinctly remember that, and the associated horror. Not to mention the risk of fatigue, health issues, and a thousand other scenarios.