Accident Analysis: Single-pilot versus Two-pilot - Is There a Safety Advantage? | Aviation International News

Accident Analysis: Single-pilot versus Two-pilot - Is There a Safety Advantage?

Having two pilots yields only a slight safety advantage.

By Gordon Gilbert • Contributor - Accidents and Regulations

June 5, 2015

AIN analysis comparing accidents involving one-pilot versus two-pilot business jet operations from 1977 through 2014 reveals, somewhat surprisingly, that from a statistics standpoint there is only a slight safety advantage to having a multiple cockpit crew in this class of airplane. The analysis examined 107 accidents, 40 (or 37 percent) of which were in jets piloted by a one-pilot crew versus 67 accidents (63 percent) in jets crewed by two pilots. Although there were more two-pilot accidents, half of the single-pilot accidents were fatal crashes compared with 45 percent of two-pilot accidents. Details of the findings in this article start with the first and heavily reported fatal accident involving a business jet flown by one pilot.

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