It may seem like blue sky, if you'll pardon the joke, but airlines and air safety regulators are busy evaluating the possibility of Single Pilot Operation, or SPO, while the U.S. Air Force and others are experimenting with totally autonomous planes. Neither idea seems close to actual airline operation, but then, it's not so long ago that there were three people in the cockpit, rather than two.
SPO is on the minds of airlines because of its possibility of adding safety if a pilot or copilot is incapacitated while in flight, and Airbus Next, a subsidiary of the planebuilder, is testing technology it calls Dragonfly on an A350-1000.
Dragonfly uses data from the aircraft’s sensors, maps the landscape, and is able to maneuver the plane independent pilot. In simulations, it has been able to assist a crew member by generating a new flight plan and communicating with Air Traffic Control and the airline. Although Airbus is not saying that, it could also be a first step to airlines flying intentionally with a single pilot.
One important consideration for an airline use of such a system, though, is that it would need to be independent of ground control, making the decisions itself; otherwise, it might be subject to electronic hacking or hijacking. That's a key distinction between a remote-contolled drone and an autonomous plane.
And, there's the human consideration: As a passenger you might be comforted to know such a system was onboard as a backup—but many passengers might resist flying a one-pilot or no-pilot airline.
For totally pilotless flying, that consideration is off the table, and the USAF has been actively experimenting with F16s flying autonomously. In December 2022, they tested an AI-piloted F16 fighter jet, with twelve test flights totaling 17 hours and including simulated aerial combat. One possible use: reducing the need and possible death toll for pilots by having a few manned planes in a fleet operation.
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