Enabling Civil Single-Pilot Operations: A State-of-the-Art Review

Advanced avionics and automation technologies have significantly transformed cockpit operations, resulting in a gradual reduction of the crew members on-board. Single-pilot operations (SPO) concept is gaining significant attention in the aviation industry due to its potential for cost savings and to cope with the anticipated pilot shortage and the increasing air traffic demand. This paper conducts a scoping literature review on SPOs, serving as an initial step to map the scientific peer-reviewed content on the subject. The survey focuses on three thematic domains, which are, respectively, operations, automation, and the emerging field of digital and cognitive flight assistants. The methodology involved the use of Google Scholar and IEEE Xplore databases. Sources were selected adapting the search criteria to the proposed sub-topics and prioritizing either the most cited and recent contributions. The analysis of the literature reveals a growing body of work in the recent years. This review also highlights interest in the human-centered design for automation solutions which are responsive to cognitive and behavioral states of the pilot. While acknowledging the potential safety and operational challenges associated with SPOs and the pilot-automation cooperation, this work suggests that great research efforts should be made on the human factor and regulatory subjects to pave the way for a feasible and safe implementation of the single-pilot paradigm in commercial aviation.