Human factors engineering research on single pilot operations for large commercial aircraft: Status and prospect
This is an incremental review paper that identifies gaps and future directions for improving safety and efficiency in aviation operations.
This paper reviews human factors engineering research for single pilot operations (SPO) in large commercial aircraft, finding preliminary support for a combined solution of flight deck upgrades and ground station support, but notes current research is incomplete and cannot provide a complete solution.
The civil aviation community is actively exploring and developing the solutions of single pilot operations SPO for large commercial aircraft. Human factors engineering research for SPO has been launched, and the research mainly focuses on three research solutions: flight deck airborne equipment upgrade, flight support from ground stations, and the combined SPO solution of "flight deck airborne equipment upgrade, flight support from ground stations". This paper reviews and analyzez the progress of human factors engineering research on SPO. The preliminary research outcome tends to support the combined SPO solution. However, the current human factors engineering research is not comprehensive and cannot provide a complete human factors engineering solution for SPO. For future human factors engineering research, this paper analyzes the key human factors issues on SPO and points out the gaps in the current research and the areas for future work. Finally, this paper puts forward an overall strategy and recommendations for future human factors engineering research on SPO.