Why airplanes might soon have just one pilot

Did any airliners in the 1950s ever actually have a crew of five? I'm aware of some models (DC-8, maybe?) having four (captain/FO/FE/navigator) but never heard of radio operator being a separate position, except on WWII bombers

Single pilot airliners? in a two dimensional setting an automobile with an incapacitated driver may kill some, in a 3 dimensional environment like flying, incapacitating the one pilot will kill everyone. Bad idea, so far.

"you would have seen five people in there (almost certainly men)", Wow cnn, you could not even write an article about airplanes having one pilot without adding your self righteous slur about men. Guess it should not be a surprise however coming from such a fine and outstanding "NEWS" organization like yours...

modern jet liners with one pilot only- sounds foolish and shortsighted. Been flying for50 years and have been in crewed airlines some of that. Many times it takes two to be safe. It takes one pilot to make the executives and their accountants dangerously happy.

Of course you can eliminate the first officer, but where do you find your experienced captain? Exactly, that’s the first officer 10 years later.
So in reality in this scenario you eliminate the experienced captain and all you have in the front is an inexperienced just graduated student pilot.
Not saying it’s impossible, I’ve flown single pilot IFR in the past, but even on the twinotter we had a second pilot simply because it’s só much safer and a training ground for the juniors.
Single pilot airliners? Not with todays generation jets. Bad idea.

I am reminded of the old joke about the "Cockpit of the Future". It is crewed by 1 man and 1 dog. The man's job is to fly the airplane; the dog's job is to bite the man's hand if he touches anything.

When everything works perfectly, maybe a future, more automated system could get away with a single pilot. But when something breaks or someone somewhere in the chain makes a mistake you'll need at least two pilots to troubleshoot. Even today with two pilots when I read some of these accident reports I sometimes think a third person in the cockpit might have made the difference and saved the day.

As a Dispatcher with a private instrument license, I'd say A super dispatcher would cost hundreds of thousands in training costs per SD.. dispatchers don't make flight crew wages.. that would have to change..

Today's dispatchers can have upwards of 65 flights during their 10 hours shift.. that would have to change... I fail to see how all these changes, costs etc would save the companies money over having a FO on the flight deck..

I can see it now, I spin over from my dispatch chair, whip my Microsoft flight sim out, grab the joystick and go fly an approach in emergency conditions, with 300 lives in the back.. not!

5 person crew……wireless operator for communications, Navigator to keep from getting lost, Flight engineer who could do limited repairs while away from base & re-rack the radios, First Officer to raise and lower the gear, Captain to fly the aircraft and when tired hand control to F/O in cruise. Now we have Datalink, FMS, MEL’s, a co-pilot with just 250 hrs. and shiny new licence and a Captain newly promoted because of rapid expansion and poor working conditions. LOL

Technology will chisel away until it finds eventual success . . . Today's pushing trend of modern advancements dictates it.

How is AI going to handle an uncontained engine failure? I'd hate to think what Al Haynes flight would have done if there were just one pilot up front, let alone zero.

Garmin can put a system in a GA airplane that in case of pilot incapacitation anyone onboard can press a big red button that will automatically have the plane head to and land at the nearest suitable airport, notify ATC of the emergency, announce to the passengers what it is doing, and stop the aircraft on the runway so emergency services can respond. How hard could it be to put such a system into a modern jet aircraft that is pretty much fully automated already? The hardest part will be convincing the public that it is safe and overcoming the pilot union work actions if such a system is implemented.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviation/five-ways-garmin-autoland-offers-peace-of-mind-to-aircraft-pilots-and-passengers/

How quickly some people would like to just airbrush away what happened with Germanwings.

Before this is implimented, all flights on government aircraft, by members of Congress, should be the norm for a five year period! If there are no problems, then it could be considered for the masses!