Senators Urge Transportation Secretary to Oppose Single-Pilot Flights

Group says advocacy at the ICAO is critical for maintaining safety.

Zach Vasile

Friday, July 25, 2025 at 04:30 PM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Flight deck of an Airbus aircraft [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

A bipartisan group of 45 U.S. senators is urging the Transportation Secretary to strongly oppose proposals for single-pilot commercial flights, citing critical safety concerns and potential unmanageable situations.
The senators advocate for the U.S. to use international forums like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to resist efforts to reduce minimum air crew requirements, emphasizing that two pilots provide essential redundancy and human judgment for aviation safety.
This push occurs while the U.S. lacks a permanent ambassador to the ICAO, with President Trump's controversial nominee facing opposition from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) over qualifications and policy stances.

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A group of 45 U.S. senators is urging Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to take a firmer stand against efforts to examine and test out proposals for having a single pilot operate commercial passenger flights.

In a letter sent to Duffy on Thursday, the lawmakers said the U.S. should use international forums like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, to push back on proposals that would reduce minimum air crew requirements. Current U.S. policy dictates that no certified airline can operate an airplane “with less than the minimum flight crew,” and that the “minimum flight crew is two pilots.”