Co-pilots are unnecessary - Ryanair's Michael O'Leary says

[Greg McDonald]

Hope this was tongue-in-cheek...


A CONTROVERSIAL airline chief has been accused of endangering passengers' safety after calling for co-pilots to be replaced with flight attendants.
Michael O’Leary, head of budget airline Ryanair, suggested that money could be saved by abolishing co-pilots.

Mr O’Leary said that a flight attendant could be trained to land the plane if the pilot ran into problems.

"Really, you only need one pilot. Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bl**dy computer fly it," Mr O’Leary told Bloomberg Business Week.

"If the pilot has an emergency, he rings the bell, he calls her in, she could take over."

However, pilots are angered at his comments, saying the move would put passengers’ lives at risk.

“His suggestion is unwise, unsafe and the public will be horrified," a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots’ Association told the UK’s Sky News.

Mr O’Leary has found himself in hot water before over his suggestions to reduce the number of toilets onboard aircraft and make them coin operated.

He also announced plans for stand-up seating on planes.

[Andrew M]

Much like paying to use the toilets me thinks!

[Hugh Jarse]

Mr. O'Leary, your village is calling!!

He doesn't offer a quality product, therefore has to resort to sensationalist comments to the media in order to promote his airline (and they fall for it like the suckers they are) :D

Personally, I think he does more harm than good to his company spewing forth tripe like that. :rolleyes:

[Anthony T]

Hi there

You need 2 on the flight deck - 1 Pilot and 1 Dog
The pilot is there to feed the dog and the dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches the controls. :D

Maybe MOL has a point, but you need two people on the flightdeck at all times. Maybe a 737 rated pilot and someone like a basic CPL to operate the radio's and double check the pilots actions call out the checklists etc, it would certainly be cheaper I would think.

Cheers
Anthony

[James Smith]

Sorry, but the flight attendant couldn't get through the locked cockpit door or she was down the aisle and couldn't get around the trolleys. Sounds like Basil Faulty. Why not promote the blow up pilot from Flying High to take over the role. That should keep everyone happy with two pilots! Roger. ;)

[David Ramsay]

The dog doesn't work on its own, you also need a cat and a duck ...

THE CAT & DUCK METHOD OF FLYING

Today's flight age is an era highlighted with increasing emphasis on safety. Instrumentation in the cockpit and in the traffic control tower has reached new peaks of electronic perfection to assist the pilot during take-offs, flight, and landings. For whimsical contrast to these and other marvels of scientific flight engineering, it is perhaps opportune to remind pilots of the basic rules concerning the so-called Cat-and-Duck Method of Flight, just in case something goes wrong with any of these new-fangled flying instruments you find in today's aircraft.

Place a live cat on the cockpit floor. Because a cat always remains upright, he or she can be used in lieu of a needle and ball. Merely watch to see which way the cat leans to determine if a wing is low and, if so, which one.

The duck is used for the instrument approach and landing. Because any sensible duck will refuse to fly under instrument conditions, it is only necessary to hurl your duck out of the plane and follow her to the ground.

There are some limitations to the Cat-and-Duck Method, but by rigidly adhering to the following check list, a degree of success will be achieved.

Get a wide-awake cat. Most cats do not want to stand up at all, at any time. It may be necessary to get a large fierce dog in the cockpit to keep the cat at attention.

Make sure your cat is clean. Dirty cats will spend all their time washing. Trying to follow a cat licking itself usually results in a tight snap roll, followed by an inverted (or flat) spin. You can see this is very unsanitary.

Old cats are best. Young cats have nine lives, but an old used-up cat with only one life left has just as much to lose an you do and will therefore be more dependable.

Beware of cowardly ducks. If the duck discovers that you are using the cat to stay upright - or straight and level- she will refuse to leave without the cat. Ducks are no better on instruments than you are.

Be sure the duck has good eyesight. Nearsighted ducks sometimes will go flogging off into the nearest hill. Very short-sighted ducks will not realize they have been thrown out and will descend to the ground in a sitting position. This maneuver is quite difficult to follow in an airplane.
Use land-loving ducks. It is very discouraging to break out and find yourself on final approach for some farm pound in Iowa. Also, the farmers there suffer from temporary insanity when chasing crows off their corn fields and will shoot anything that flies.

Choose your duck carefully. It is easy to confuse ducks with geese because many water birds look alike. While they are very competent instrument flyers , geese seldom want to go in the same direction you do. If your duck heads off for the Okefenokee Swamp, you may be sure you have been given the goose.

[Donald H]

Hi there

You need 2 on the flight deck - 1 Pilot and 1 Dog
The pilot is there to feed the dog and the dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches the controls. :D

Maybe MOL has a point, but you need two people on the flightdeck at all times. Maybe a 737 rated pilot and someone like a basic CPL to operate the radio's and double check the pilots actions call out the checklists etc, it would certainly be cheaper I would think.

Cheers
Anthony

Yeah, so we lose a few hundred people once in a while...who cares? As long as the fare is cheap, right? :eek:

[Joe Frampton]

The man is undoubtedly a complete tool, but a very rich tool, and a tool who runs the largest airline in the world in terms of international passenger numbers. So we can all be out outraged at his outlandish comments, in scant regard of all safety conventions, but millions & millions of people will still put up with pretty much anything to fly for a dollar, and I suppose I'm one of them. I watch with keen interest :rolleyes:

[Craig Sandford]

Makes you wonder what other forms of redundancy he will suggest aren't required. :rolleyes:

[D Chan]

couldve got the pax to fly the plane as well

[Maikha Ly]

Reminds me of a popular Dilbert comic!

http://www.gdargaud.net/Humor/Pics/DilbertOverbooking.gif

:p

[Greg McDonald]

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is looking to provide single-pilot operation for commercial passenger jets in the 2020-2025 time frame, The Wall Street Journal reported.

By 2020, Embraer said, air-traffic control will be modernised in both the US and in Europe, and new technology will make one-person cockpits feasible.

Whether it will be acceptable to the flying public is a different question, Embraer noted.

[Matt N.]

O'Leary will one day run out of these headline grabbing comments, I wonder how he will get the worlds attention then. It works though, I'm sure there are a lot of people who (1) know the name Ryanair and (2) look to them for cheap airfares. It must work...

[Andrew M]

At least O'Leary is honest!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/12/ryanair-move-away-from-low-fares

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has warned of an end to bargain-basement fares as the no-frills carrier plans a shift away from its "pile it high and sell it cheap" approach.

O'Leary also said the Dublin-based airline will need a new chief executive as growth slows, admitting that his controversial management style would be out of place in a more mature business.

Asked when he expects to step down as Ryanair chief executive, the 49-year-old said he will stay at the helm until the carrier nearly doubles in size. "When we are twice the size we are now, at around 400 aircraft, then the growth rate slows down to 2% or 3% per year. The shareholders will want a return. You will need a different management then. We won't need my dog and pony show, which is about generating publicity. Every company has to move from being the high-growth Robin Hood."

[Grant Smith]

Pilot offers alternative cost cutting measure (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/news/ryanair-pilot-proposes-no-frills-idea/story-e6frezi0-1225922596648)

Perhaps this is what Mr O'leary was referring to in an earlier article :D