FedEx and Sikorsky quietly begin single-pilot tests for cargo airliners

A modified ATR 42 began flight trials last week in Connecticut as part of an effort to test technology for single-pilot operations.

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To listen to the air traffic control frequency at Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Connecticut from the afternoon of February 10, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. But as a FedEx Express-owned ATR 42-300 turboprop was cleared for takeoff a few minutes before 4pm, the package freighter became the largest known commercial aircraft to test technologies designed to enable flying with just a single pilot at the controls.

The secretive start to flight trials with the aging turboprop are the latest steps by Sikorsky and the logistics giant to advance its development of autonomous technologies for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, according to those familiar with the tests. The use of the package freighter as a test bed, a converted 48-seat airliner, will likely intensify both the technology development amid a steady transformation in the economics of e-commerce and a heated public debate around single-pilot operations.

Jon Ostrower

Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network's global coverage of the business and operations of flying. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C. he covered Boeing, aviation safety and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Ostrower was editor of the award-winning FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor's degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.

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A modified ATR 42 began flight trials last week in Connecticut as part of an effort...

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