Single Pilot Concept of Operations: Hazard Identification and Mitigation Measures

Objective: This work identifies the human factors hazards associated<br/>with Single Pilot Operations (SiPO) in small jets currently certified for<br/>single-pilot operations and assesses their transferability to future airliner<br/>single-pilot concept.<br/>Background: SiPO of commercial airliners is imminent. Hazard identification<br/>of SiPO based upon an extant similar system could contribute<br/>to proving SiPO equally safe to multicrew operations (MCO).<br/>Method: The three-part study consisted of archival analysis of 47<br/>accidents and 237 incident involving small single-pilot jets, subject<br/>matter expert (SME) interviews and an opinion survey of one hundred<br/>airline pilots. The multi-method approach provided holistic, complementary<br/>data, enabling findings to be triangulated.<br/>Results: Results identified the human factors hazards were mainly<br/>associated with the absence of a second crew member, specifically<br/>for: monitoring, workload management; situational awareness and<br/>verifying decision-making. SiPO acceptance was generally low<br/>amongst the airline pilot community. SJ pilots and airliner pilots<br/>favored a system configuration based around high levels of automation/<br/>autonomy rather than the displacement of the second pilot to the<br/>ground with on-demand availability (a distributed air/ground sociotechnical<br/>system).<br/>Conclusion: In addition to the development of enabling technologies<br/>fundamental for de-crewing the need for further research into the<br/>design and development of single-pilot resource management (SRM)<br/>courses and definition of minimum flight experience for SiPO was<br/>recommended.