EASA Pulls Back On Single-Pilot Ops

The European Aviation Safety Agency says even the most modern airliner flight decks aren’t smart enough to act as pilots so it’s backing off creating regulations to allow for single-pilot operations. In a report released Friday, the agency said it’s pausing its investigation into new regs until the electronics are brought up to the level of safety achieved by having two human pilots on the flight deck in all phases of flight. Before it will reconsider regs for extended Minimum Crew Operations (eMCO), EASA says flight decks have to have systems in place for workload management, pilot health and status, security threat awareness and various autonomous safety backups. Each one of those systems will have to be exhaustively tested before getting in the air with passengers.

The decision effectively slams the brakes on work toward a policy framework for single-pilot ops. Rather than starting a rulemaking process for eMCO, it’s made consideration of new rules part of its “smart cockpit” definition and development. It’s not clear how big an impact this will have on the potential implementation of single-pilot ops since airframers are already working on the tech that EASA says is missing. Nevertheless, the news will undoubtedly be welcomed by pilot unions, which see the efficiency the regulators and airframers say they’re trying to achieve as a direct threat to air safety and their jobs. Capt. Tanja Harter, president of the European Cockpit Association, said her group will continue to campaign against any crew reduction attempts. “Two qualified, well-rested pilots—four eyes, two brains—is a system that works,” she said.