Don’t Take My Co-Pilot Away

Friday, 10 September 2010 | by Pat's Picks

I understand offering a smaller package of pretzels. I even understand charging for checked baggage. But please don’t take my co-pilot away. I read yesterday that kooky Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is trying to cut costs again by eliminating something he sees as unnecessary: two pilots in the cockpit. According to the Guardian, he says a co-pilot’s only purpose is to “make sure the first fella doesn’t fall asleep and knock over one of the computer controls.” Whatever the saving is for flying on the one-pilot plane, count me out. I understand that they pretty much fly themselves nowadays. But I’d still like the comfort of having a two-person crew in the cockpit.

Ryanair has a long history of raising preposterous ideas to generate buzz and to cause people to re-think their service expectations. This is the airline that’s suggested charging for the use of the on-board toilets. And they’ve pushed for standing-room compartments to cram more passengers onto each plane.

O’Leary justified his idea, saying trains are allowed to run with only one conductor. Let me be (not) the first to point out the obvious: a train isn’t the same as a plane. If there’s a runaway train because the engineer has fallen ill, someone turns off the train (if the ‘deadman’ switch hasn’t already kicked in) and the train sits on the track until help arrives. No one has to land the train because it’s running out of fuel. The comparison, like most of O’Leary’s ideas, is absurd.

O’Leary came to mind when I spotted a story in USA Today about a new way to shove more people onto a plane: saddle-inspired seats.