Job requirements in a single pilot operation in future commercial aviation

Abstract Single pilot operation (SPO) is now coming into focus, as advances in automation and artificial intelligence may allow the implementation of certain SPO concepts in commercial aviation within the upcoming years. At the same time, commercial aviation is facing a rising demand, increasing operating costs, and an enduring shortage of pilots. SPO implies far-reaching changes to the pilot positions and brings up questions regarding the inevitable guarantee of today’s safety standards, also related to the job requirements of SPO. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the requirements of the future SPO positions in comparison to today’s dual pilot (DP) position. The Fleishman Job Analysis Survey was administered to 40 airline pilots to evaluate the required levels of 75 different abilities and skills from five domains: cognitive, psychomotor, physical, sensory and interactive. Beforehand, participants were introduced to a reference SPO concept comprising two human roles – onboard pilot (OBP) and remote pilot (RP) – assisted by AI. Statistical analyses revealed high similarity between DP and OBP in terms of their requirement profile, whereas RP’s requirement profile diverged significantly at a predominantly lower level. On three cognitive and five important interactive requirements, the OBP position demands a higher level than the DP position. The results suggest that personnel selection concepts require no major but some minor adjustments when selecting personnel for SPOs. However, future technical developments have to consider these results to strive for maximum safety.