Talking about shaking your head in disbelief

[Jack_C 1]

This one is a bit off topic BUT it does involve the NG! Unless the reporters messed this one up and reported incorrectly (they NEVER do that) I couldn't believe a CEO would even THINK of doing this. Wanna see accident rates go sky high because one pilot couldn't handle the workload. It WOULD happen. I know the authorities would never allow this to happen but IF it ever did RyanAir would be doomed. I wouldn't put myself or any member of my family on any of his planes. Here goes. Quote:Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, could be in the market for up to 300 aircraft, the company's chief executive was quoted as saying in an interview on Wednesday.Ryanair had pulled out of talks last year to buy 200 jets from Boeing after failing to agree on certain conditions.But Michael O'Leary told the Financial Times there was still the option of buying not only the 200 Boeing jets -- worth about USD$15 billion -- but up to 300 from either Boeing or its rival Airbus.He said he saw no airline on the market worth buying.O'Leary also told the paper he is seeking permission from aviation authorities to use only one pilot per flight as a way to cut back on costs."It would save the entire industry a fortune," O'Leary said.Boeing spokesman referred questions about the interview to Ryanair and said talks with any customers were confidential.*ReutersWhat some people will do just to make a dollar. When will the greed ever end?Jack C

[TheDanger 182]

This one is a bit off topic BUT it does involve the NG! Unless the reporters messed this one up and reported incorrectly (they NEVER do that) I couldn't believe a CEO would even THINK of doing this. Wanna see accident rates go sky high because one pilot couldn't handle the workload. It WOULD happen. I know the authorities would never allow this to happen but IF it ever did RyanAir would be doomed. I wouldn't put myself or any member of my family on any of his planes. Here goes. Quote:Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, could be in the market for up to 300 aircraft, the company's chief executive was quoted as saying in an interview on Wednesday.Ryanair had pulled out of talks last year to buy 200 jets from Boeing after failing to agree on certain conditions.But Michael O'Leary told the Financial Times there was still the option of buying not only the 200 Boeing jets -- worth about USD$15 billion -- but up to 300 from either Boeing or its rival Airbus.He said he saw no airline on the market worth buying.O'Leary also told the paper he is seeking permission from aviation authorities to use only one pilot per flight as a way to cut back on costs."It would save the entire industry a fortune," O'Leary said.Boeing spokesman referred questions about the interview to Ryanair and said talks with any customers were confidential.*ReutersWhat some people will do just to make a dollar. When will the greed ever end?Jack C

This was in the news last week.Imagine if he was the CEO of a restaurant? The waiter would also be the cook, cleaner, cloakroom attendant etc

[Datalink 26]

It's more to do with marketing and all the PR it brings Ryanair. I can't see any regulators authorising one flight deck crew airliners for quite some time

[Jack_C 1]

Not only that if boeing certified it as a 2 crew then it HAS to be 2 crew. Authorities can't change that. IF they did and something did happen it would be a lawyer's heaven.

[MorsAbAlto 19]

We can all point our fingers at MOL and laugh, but one day this might very well become true. It's a fact that one person up front costs less then two. Embraer recently announced they are working to make single pilot operations feasable within the next 20 years. There was a similar outcry when the flight engineer was eliminated from the flight deck, yet it still happened. Our technology becomes more sophisticated at an incredible pace. Moore's law at it's best. Personally, I believe we will reach a point where humans offer no advantage over computers anymore. I despise this development, but it might be unstoppable. Also, a lot of fatal accidents in aviation were due to human error. So maybe this was just a PR stunt from Ryanair, but considering the big picture, this is definitely the next big thing in aviation, together with new engine concepts.

[Jack_C 1]

I remember and engineer whos field was involved in things like this. But he did say a pilotless aircraft is a long long way off. The amount of extra wiring alone to implement redundancies due to lack of pilots is unimaginable. The weight of the wiring would not make it feasible. At our company, management has calculated that carrying 300 pounds less potable water saves us 1-2 million a year is fuel savings. Of course we caryy enough water but why carry 600 lbs when you only have a 30 minute leg. I can imagine what tens of thousands of pounds of extra wiring would cost. I wonder what the unions would do if the threat of reducing an aircraft to one pilot would be IF there is plans for that by the manufacturers. Got to remember the unions are a lot stronger now than they were back 30 years ago. I think the airlines would have a huge battle on the hands for that one. Oh how about this. Try cutting the CEO's pay! There is no way a CEO should be making 50 million a year (especially when they drive the company into creditor protection and devalue the company where no investor wants to touch you. I won't mention names but it sounds like Blobert Nilton. Don't get me started with him!). 50M a year? That pays for about 400 pilots. As for pilotless aircraft. Look at what happened to that UAV that lost radio contact and had no way of controlling it. I don't think FAA wants these things around. Jack C

[Yitzhak 0]

yeah, and how does he suggest we train new captains?

[MVelasquez 12]

Its always good to have an extra set of eyes up front.

[jcmontagne 1]

I'm not surprised although this is really going a bit too far.In the end, their methods will turn back against them.

[fakeflyer737 992]

Airliners.net has a better thread going on about this if you guys are interested.Ron Hamilton

[Guest 413X3]

He always says controversial things to get PR. He also said they should charge to use the Lou.

[ahsmatt7 1,199]

I don't see this happening at all. If it did, then the regulating agency would have to change rest rules quite a bit do to the higher workload.

[Jack_C 1]

He obviously doesn't always think through what he say. Just by suggesting this, I wouldn't fly on his airline ever. Sorry, I'll pay the extra 100 bucks to fly elsewhere. If he is suggesting things like this what is he actually doing WITHOUT permission (eg, neglecting maintenance to get that extra mile out of a screw jack or something). Sorry, but I have seen and worked for owners that are greedy. They squeeze money out of the areas that sacrifice safety. Sorry to say but this guy is a moron.Jack C

[wrenchca 0]

I'm not saying I agree with the concept of a single pilot on the flightdeck but I can see it coming some day. Think about it, we have two humans on the flightdeck to cross check and be able to take over if the other is unable. What if we get to the point of full automation of the flight? With a single pilot, you would still have the redundancy we currently have. The only difference is that one pilot is a carbon based lifeform and the other a silicon based machine. I am sure that this is still many years from being seen in fleet service, but I am quite sure that it will come to be.My two cents,Chuck D.CYXU

[JC75 22]

Interesting views on this and typical of why some systems that could already be humanless arent. Rail for instance, why still have traindrivers? Its on rails cant go anywhere, there already automatic braking if they pass red signals, etc etc...its all public perception that people actually feel the train driver can rescue them from some horrific fate, and his sitting their wrestling with the controls, just like pilots, they think they sit there the whole time navigating there way across the world and wrestling with the controls, unaware that from 500ft up the computer as been doing the lot.Now the argument that the pilot will be there to rescue everyone when the computer fails, is slowly falling away, the planes are becoming that automated that in fact if the computers have failed, the pilot as got as much chance of saving everyone as he would if the wings had fell off. And in fact most incidents occur because of human intervention.UAV's and years ago they did a test flight in a BAC1-11 where from stand to stand the whole flight using GPS, cameras and ground based control the whole aircraft was controlled from the ground.The argument about wiring and the like doesnt hold true also in todays modern electronics, most aircraft already have at least 3 systems backing each other up, with the advent of reliable and various forms of wirelss communication teh tech to achieve automated flight is actually quite simple. Already now Air traffic radars with Mode s (which is a 20 year old technology) can see on the screens what the pilot as dialed in as speed, selected level, heading etc. So goes like this ATC say climb flight level 070, pilot gets it wrong and dials in 080, ATC see this on screen and query it....remove pilot from equation, and ATC instead just select 070 from the ground and already improved safety by removing what is always the main reason for error...and thats the human interface. The only reason we arent already allowing aircraft to be controlled directly by ATC is purely and simply the public and their perception. echoed by the original posters comments regarding ryanair.On that subject from my side of the screen, and my experience with the airline purely as avaition point and not as a paying customer in the back seat, I would say that Ryan air are the most proffesional, safest, most compliant with procedures, airline going. Some of the old school and long standing airlines have a lot to do to catch up with the high standards that ryanair set. Take a look at figures for CDA, noise, etc and Ryanair have 100% records at most of the places they operate to. The old ryanair we all knew and loved of racing down the taxiway and dive bombing approaches as long long gone. O'leary and his antics for what he does with the airline in the back part of the airplane doesnt reflect at all whats going on up front. You might get the service and customer care far better in first class with many other airlines and not pay a quid for the toilet, but I would say you probably have far less chance of dying on a ryanair (apart from eating on it) than you have with many other carriers.