Imagining a Day When Airliners Are Flown Solo

It once took a cockpit crew of three to fly an airliner: captain, first officer and flight engineer. Today, it's two, the captain and first officer. But on-board computers have made flying commercial jets relatively easy—so easy there's talk of a day when airliners could be flown solo.

Aircraft manufacturer Embraer, a major supplier of 40- and 100-seat jets to U.S. airlines, says it wants its planes capable of single-pilot flight within 10 to 15 years. And avionics group Thales says it is working on a next-generation cockpit that would enable single-pilot operations with a backup for incapacitation.

"It's something that would be potentially feasible," said Kevin Hiatt, a former international chief pilot for Delta Air Lines who is now executive vice president of the Flight Safety Foundation.

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