Reduced crew

[gliderboy]

Curiously, fell apart how? Did they not possess the aptitude/skill/SA/ability to manage a cockpit themselves without the crutch of a second pilot there to help with decision making in a committee setting, or even to make decisions for them?

In a word, stress. They could all fly more or less okay, but they'd never been alone up front with a load of pax behind them. Too, the inter-island flying we were doing required a ballistic flight curve up and down through clouds to remain within glide-to-land distance. Night and bad weather also freaked out a few of them.
Note that almost everyone turns on the radio when driving by themselves. Why? Because even a disembodied voice makes them feel less alone. One of our planes had an ADF receiver in it. I turned it on once out of curiosity and it was turned to a local AM radio station.
Man is a social animal, and a man alone is in poor company.

Physiological monitoring of the first airliner single-pilots will be an interesting field of study....

 

[MikeD]

In a word, stress. They could all fly more or less okay, but they'd never been alone up front with a load of pax behind them. Too, the inter-island flying we were doing required a ballistic flight curve up and down through clouds to remain within glide-to-land distance. Night and bad weather also freaked out a few of them.
Note that almost everyone turns on the radio when driving by themselves. Why? Because even a disembodied voice makes them feel less alone. One of our planes had an ADF receiver in it. I turned it on once out of curiosity and it was turned to a local AM radio station.
Man is a social animal, and a man alone is in poor company.

Physiological monitoring of the first airliner single-pilots will be an interesting field of study....

When I flew 135 SPIFR cargo way back in the day, I’d just trim the bird up for level flight, pull out whichever paperback book I was reading, adjust the overhead red light, and kill time that way. day, night, VMC, IMC, all the same. Still monitor what the plane is doing and the navigation and such, but pass time with a book, or have the ADF up if there was a game on that I was interested in.

 

[scoobs]

I thought the German wings suicide requires 2 people in the flight deck?

 

[ppragman]

Space exploration for its own sake is cool I guess. What irritates me is the grandiose fantasy that we have a remote chance of an expanse-style space borne society any time before ecological collapse kneecaps our ability to do things that big. We’re several orders of magnitude of technological breakthroughs away from that, let alone terraforming another celestial body.

I think - and this is just my opinion - that moving all the polluting industries "off planet" would go a long way to solving some of the more pressing environmental issues. Also, as a source of hope, it appears that economic growth is decoupling from increased emissions.

The relationship between growth in GDP and CO2 has loosened; it needs to be cut completely – Analysis - IEA

The relationship between growth in GDP and CO2 has loosened; it needs to be cut completely - A commentary by Siddharth Singh

www.iea.org

I think it stands to reason that the explosive growth of renewables might have it's own sort of exponential action... hopefully. Or maybe AMOC will shut off and things will chill out.

Many folks that work in the space/science/exploration realm are actively against human exploration citing costs and that the dollars could be better spent on sending probes and robots afar. While I don't disagree and certainly respect their opinion, human exploration is still important in my view.

It's all about money. Your Guide to NASA's Budget

when nasa funding is greater than $50b we do really cool stuff, so, pony up, below that thresholds I don't think we can afford really cool manned missions.

 

[ppragman]

When I flew 135 SPIFR cargo way back in the day, I’d just trim the bird up for level flight, pull out whichever paperback book I was reading, adjust the overhead red light, and kill time that way. day, night, VMC, IMC, all the same. Still monitor what the plane is doing and the navigation and such, but pass time with a book, or have the ADF up if there was a game on that I was interested in.

Lol, I wasn't the only one?

 

[jhugz]

Lol, I wasn't the only one?

If the book was good enough, you also got to practice your upset recovery. Ah, single pilot freight. My favorite job I hope to never do again.

 

[Skåning]

I thought the German wings suicide requires 2 people in the flight deck?

It did but then they walked it back just a few years later for some dumb reason

 

[Ian_J]

When I flew 135 SPIFR cargo way back in the day, I’d just trim the bird up for level flight, pull out whichever paperback book I was reading, adjust the overhead red light, and kill time that way. day, night, VMC, IMC, all the same. Still monitor what the plane is doing and the navigation and such, but pass time with a book, or have the ADF up if there was a game on that I was interested in.

Yup. Best job ever. If it paid what I get paid now and if it had the scheduling flexibility I enjoy now I’d still be doing it… uh, if it’s even a thing any more, that is.

 

[Soku39]

yeah, now would be a great time to set up your side-hustle.

We've always gotten along, but i gotta say. I have done so much work to get up to this point, plus I'm on year 15 of still flying for the freaking reserve, flying dog crap missions in the C-17. I do not want a "side hustle" as a legacy airline pilot. I just want to be left alone. I know it won't happen, but the thought of changing careers, simply not into it, hoping I can just retire when they get rid of us.

 

[Richman]

The year is 2030, you're flying a bonanza across the country, auto-atc realizes you will be arriving too soon, easiest option is to send you to a fix slightly out of the way to buy some time. A notification pops up on your Garmin 69,420 holo-screen: "new route update information recieved, press ok to insert in flight plan!"

You press ok. "Clearance change accepted, press ident to acknowledge the routing change."

You ident.

Another notification pops up: "ident recieved, have a nice day!"

There’s no room for VFR with the TechBros. The part they leave out is their system doesn’t work with anyone having the capability for manual control, whether it’s a train, plane or taxicab.

Either human or fully automated. There’s no in between because the system won’t allow for it.

 

[ppragman]

We've always gotten along, but i gotta say. I have done so much work to get up to this point, plus I'm on year 15 of still flying for the freaking reserve, flying dog crap missions in the C-17. I do not want a "side hustle" as a legacy airline pilot. I just want to be left alone. I know it won't happen, but the thought of changing careers, simply not into it, hoping I can just retire when they get rid of us.

It sucks I know - we all have done so much work - some more than others, but yah. It ain't fair, it just is, but you gotta look out for yourself, at least dump money into the market or something if that's your thing? But arguably, you have a side hustle - you're in the guard iirc, right? If you can get a retirement from that and manage to squeak out a retirement from the airlines, you'll be set.

Real talk, we'll all be "fine." And arguably because most of these companies are so broke dick there will be a lag between the technology existing and it being implemented. There may even be entirely new markets that open up as a result of this stuff too, so maybe there's even more flying in something we can't even fathom now? Maybe you're some sort of weird IT Manager for a fleet of drones? Regardless, I would bet that you'll be fine; still, hedge your bets. The future will get here, one day at a time. It's coming for all of us whether we want it or not. Whether that's when you medical out, or whether that's you get to the point you need to get to financially and you can retire and you leave the profession. What do you want to do between now and then? Also, how do you want your life to look like then?

Also, front load a little more fun. Go backpacking or pick up a new hobby, etc. You never know how long the gravy train will last.

 

[ppragman]

Either human or fully automated. There’s no in between because the system won’t allow for it.

you're probably right for money, we will see for the hobby

 

[Soku39]

It sucks I know - we all have done so much work - some more than others, but yah. It ain't fair, it just is, but you gotta look out for yourself, at least dump money into the market or something if that's your thing? But arguably, you have a side hustle - you're in the guard iirc, right? If you can get a retirement from that and manage to squeak out a retirement from the airlines, you'll be set.

Real talk, we'll all be "fine." And arguably because most of these companies are so broke dick there will be a lag between the technology existing and it being implemented. There may even be entirely new markets that open up as a result of this stuff too, so maybe there's even more flying in something we can't even fathom now? Maybe you're some sort of weird IT Manager for a fleet of drones? Regardless, I would bet that you'll be fine; still, hedge your bets. The future will get here, one day at a time. It's coming for all of us whether we want it or not. Whether that's when you medical out, or whether that's you get to the point you need to get to financially and you can retire and you leave the profession. What do you want to do between now and then? Also, how do you want your life to look like then?

Also, front load a little more fun. Go backpacking or pick up a new hobby, etc. You never know how long the gravy train will last.

Dude, rock climbing, white water kayaking, cycling, adventure motorcycles, guitar, the list goes on and on. I have so many hobbies that flying is a mere afterthought. It is absolutely a gravy train and I'll miss it when it's gone, but only because I can credit 70 hours in 10 or 11 days and live my life the rest of the time.

What I really find disturbing are the people that say they don't know what they'd do if they were retired and I can't help but think how awful their lives must be to have that small of an imagiation.

 

[scoobs]

We've always gotten along, but i gotta say. I have done so much work to get up to this point, plus I'm on year 15 of still flying for the freaking reserve, flying dog crap missions in the C-17. I do not want a "side hustle" as a legacy airline pilot. I just want to be left alone. I know it won't happen, but the thought of changing careers, simply not into it, hoping I can just retire when they get rid of us.

You don’t like flying the moose?

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Also, front load a little more fun. Go backpacking or pick up a new hobby, etc. You never know how long the gravy train will last.

@Soku39

If it brings you even short term joy it's worth spending money on.

Edit: I hit reply before reading your reply, but it bears repeating anyway.

 

[Skåning]

Dude, rock climbing, white water kayaking, cycling, adventure motorcycles, guitar, the list goes on and on. I have so many hobbies that flying is a mere afterthought.

Sounds like you dont hsve kids

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Sounds like you dont hsve kids

DINKWTC[1] is the way to live.

[1] Dual income, no kids, with two (or more) cats.

 

[Wardogg]

Sounds like you dont hsve kids

I sold a classic car to put my oldest in braces. I try and remind her every few years.

 

[NovemberEcho]

What I really find disturbing are the people that say they don't know what they'd do if they were retired and I can't help but think how awful their lives must be to have that small of an imagiation.

I was worried about that when Covid hit and we went to 5 on 10 off. Coming from 6 days/60 hours a week for years I was terrified I was going to be bored off my ass, especially with everything closed. Took me about 3 days to realize I’d be perfectly content never working another day in my life (so long as I was still getting paid). My work ethic has never recovered and I miss 2020 so much.

 

[Soku39]

You don’t like flying the moose?

The moose is fine, the completely legal 24 hour duty days with 3 pilots I hate. The first time you leave the east coast, hit Europe get some gas, more cargo and people then keep going is a real eye opener. I see why people in the 17 get burned out so fast. I also miss the C-130 like crazy, the flying was so fun. The C-17 is essentially airline flying with 30 extra steps on either side of the flight causeeee military.

Sounds like you dont hsve kids

You are correct.