The new head of Germany’s Pilots’ Association has come out strongly against moves towards licensing pilot-less aircraft.
“The highest level of safety can only be achieved in a combination of human and machine,’’ Vereinigung Cockpit President, Markus Wahl, said in an interview with dpa.
He expressed concern over moves to do away with the third pilot on long-haul routes, seeing this as a step along the road to fully autonomous planes.
He declined to comment specifically on the recent accident involving an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max8, immediately after take-off that showed similarities with a Lion Air crash in October, but said there was a question mark over how much more technology pilots would have to master in the cockpit.
Wahl also voiced concern about the increase in unmanned flying objects, such as drones and about future plans for pilot-less flying taxis to carry passengers to airports, calling for regulation.
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