Safety Starts With Two: The DOT’s Commitment to Crews of at Least Two People Is a Commitment to Safety

Special interests are trying to gamble with safety, and it is up to regulators, frontline workers, and passengers to take action to keep flying safe. When efforts are focused on corporate profits over safety, we all lose. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced a new rule mandating two-person crews on most freight and passenger railroads, recognizing that crews of at least two people are a vital safety feature on the rails—and the same is true in the air.

By reinforcing this core concept, the DOT has once again put safety first. Unfortunately, corporate interests continue to push for a reduction in the number of crew at the expense of safety to maximize profits.

In the airline industry, some manufacturers are pushing the misguided development of aircraft designed to be flown with fewer pilots on the flight deck. One aircraft manufacturer CEO has been so bold as to say outright: “If you go to a one-man cockpit, you might as well go to a zero-man cockpit.”

As an airline pilot with decades of experience, I’ve witnessed the benefits of improvements in flight-deck technology, but I’m also deeply aware of the limitations. I’ve experienced how automation makes flying a plane easier and safer, but like almost every other airline pilot, I’ve also experienced in-flight technology failures and disruptions that can only be remedied by human intervention.

When an emergency arises in flight or on the rails, there is no replacement for the judgment, coordination, and division of responsibilities between onboard crewmembers. That’s often the difference between a near miss and complete disaster like we saw when a FedEx and Southwest flight nearly collided in Austin last year. If not for the two pilots on that flight deck, it most likely would have resulted in the loss of 131 lives. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board , agrees. She said of the event, “Two crewmembers were on the flight deck of the FedEx plane—two crewmembers who I believe prevented a disaster from occurring in Austin that day.” She continued, “Those two crewmembers are heroes in my book.”

The DOT’s commitment to crews of at least two people is a commitment to safety. It is only corporate interests who want to increase the risk to line their pockets. Passengers don’t want it, workers don’t want it, and the communities potentially impacted don’t want it. So, it’s up to all of us to make sure that those willing to gamble with safety are stopped. We can’t allow special interests to eliminate the most important safety feature on trains and airliners: the people at the controls.