A standard flight for an airline pilot consists of thousands of micro-tasks linked together. Whether it is monitoring the radio’s, manipulating the controls, or managing the crew, these tasks must all be done correctly every time to ensure a safe flight.
In general aviation, pilots must still accomplish many of these tasks, however, the procedures and equipment are much less complex.
In order to manage this task load, pilots use several redundancies. These include communications with the tower to get up to date weather and traffic information, using autopilot, using checklists to ensure nothing is missed, and often most importantly, pilots will fly with a first-officer or co-pilot.
Can a pilot fly alone? The short answer is yes. Pilots of almost all skill levels, even student pilots, can safely and legally fly an airplane alone. However, airliners require two pilots, both legally and functionally.
Every pilot has flown alone at some point, and many find it enjoyable. It is far more manageable to fly alone in a small prop-plane than it is in, say, a 747. In this article, we’re going to discuss the commercial flights that do only require one pilot and the duties of a co-pilot. We’re also going take a closer look at the functions and limitations of auto-pilot.
Table of Contents
A Pilot’s Journey
Every pilot starts off on pretty much the same path. Whether they are looking to fly bush planes, passenger airliners, or fighter jets, most pilots start off in a good old’ Cessna or something similar.
The first 10-15 hours of flight instruction are to learn the basics; taking off, landing, maneuvering, emergency procedures— that sort of thing. After the flight instructor feels confident in the student’s abilities, they sign off their flight log to do a solo flight.
The first solo flight can best be described as a dream— a dream in which you have just stolen an airplane and are now flying it alone. It is an exhilarating and sweaty experience.
After the first solo flight, student pilots will fly by themselves many more times before getting their initial licenses. Once they do have those licenses, they’ll then continue to fly, often hundreds of hours alone, until they qualify for a commercial license.
If the pilot then decides to go down the road of becoming an airline transport pilot, the days of flying alone are most likely left behind them.
How Many Pilots Does It Take to Fly an Airliner?
In many airliners, there are seats for three pilots; the Captain, the First Officer, and the Flight Engineer. However, the role of flight engineer has almost all but phased out since the 1980s.
The flight engineer was responsible for monitoring all of the instruments and machinery readings during a flight, a position no longer required with advances in computer technology and auto-pilot systems.
Now, there are generally two pilots in an airliner. The Captain or pilot-in-command sits in the left seat and is responsible for the overall flight safety, actually manipulating the controls to fly the airplane, and is generally the one talking to air traffic control on the radios.
The First Officer is in the right seat monitoring weather conditions, fuel consumption, radar contacts (of other airplanes), and is providing a second expert opinion on any pilot decision making.
This redundancy is to provide better judgment, ease the workload, and allow for more experience in the event of an emergency.
Will Airlines Be Operated by only one Pilot in the Future?
It is unlikely that airliners will go to flying with just one pilot anytime soon, although some major companies, such as Boeing have proposed it. The argument is that with auto-pilot technology advancing as fast as it is, it will become equally safe and far more cost-efficient to have just one pilot. This raises the question, is an auto-pilot system really a viable replacement for an actual pilot? Probably not yet…
Auto-pilot capabilities: Limits to the Autopilot
So what exactly are the capabilities of auto-pilot?
Well, it varies. An auto-pilot can be something as simple as just keeping a heading, or it can be complicated enough to land the airplane.
In small airplanes, it isn’t uncommon to have an auto-pilot that is capable of maintaining altitude and heading. This is sometimes used by pilots on longer flights, though its restrictions make it somewhat pointless for the majority of flying an average private pilot is engaging in.
Airliners, on the other hand, are usually equipped with two or even three autopilot systems. One is usually manipulating servos that are attached to the flight controls, while another is the ‘brain’ and interfacing with all the airplane’s computer systems to ensure a smooth and safe flight. These systems are capable of MUCH more than what you typically find in small planes.
While none currently allow the airplane to take off on auto-pilot alone, many systems can fly the entire flight and even land with no pilot interception. However, for the most part, pilots will wait until at least 1000 feet in the air or more before engaging autopilot and will release it several miles out from the landing airport.
So if the auto-pilot is so capable, why the redundancy in pilots?
First of all, like anything electrical or mechanical, anything can malfunction, in this case requiring immediate pilot intervention. Secondly, even with auto-pilot flying the airplane once en-route, it is the pilots who must be continuously monitoring the flight path for other contacts, be speaking to air traffic control, and monitoring the flight systems to ensure there are no in-flight emergencies. Even with the auto-pilot, this is plenty of work for two people, who are responsible for hundreds of lives, to manage.
How trained is the co-pilot to fly?
The short answer is: completely. A co-pilot is simply a co-pilot because whoever the pilot-in-command is most likely outranks them or because that’s what the schedule says that day.
A co-pilot has often been through just as much as training as the pilot-in-command. Typically, they’ll have thousands of hours of flight time, been a flight instructor for some time, and many were military pilots.
In general, the airliner industry promotes its pilots based on time in service, so a co-pilot is no less capable of flying than the pilot-in-command.
Summary
Can pilots fly alone? Absolutely. Someone who has never stepped foot in an airplane could be flying one alone after just a few weeks of flight instruction. Student pilots will fly hundreds of miles before receiving their initial license.
Many pilots in general aviation fly alone all the time. In a smaller aircraft, it is completely possible to perform all the necessary tasks to fly without the aid of an auto-pilot or a co-pilot.
All airline pilots are also capable of flying alone, but a passenger airline will always have a minimum of two pilots in the cockpit. Both pilots are 100% trained and capable of flying. The pilot-in-command will often be in control of actually flying the aircraft, speaking to air traffic control, and make the final call in the decision process.
The co-pilot is monitoring weather, radar contacts, and flight computers to ensure a seamless flight. They are also a second opinion for decision making.
Auto-pilot is used in most airliners for the majority of the flight, though not the full extent of its capabilities. Pilots often manually fly for at least the first 1000 feet off of the ground and for the final several miles of the flight.
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