Kraviator,
There will always be exceptions to the rule, you’re cherry picking incidents and accidents, and by the way, as far as I know 100% of Airliner accidents have occurred with a manned crew, so stats are irrelevant in this discussion. Here’s a statistic I was privy to, but most folks aren’t. Military drones crash, a lot….I’m Glad your friends wears his mask,sounds like he has a valid reason to do so, however, I’d bet a lot of money that 80% of the people I see wearing masks in airports in 2023 are wearing them for psychological security and not medical reasons. Masks have become the Adult equivalent of the baby pacifier. All I’m saying is these types of passengers will be terrified to board an aircraft without a pilot. As far as Freight ops, as a freight pilot, I’m not worried, because after the first 747 unmanned freighter crashes into a farmer’s field, or, God Forbid, a populated city, unmanned flights will cease.Hell they could barely fly the Concorde in the 1970’s because of a small noise issue, and you really think people will be OK with a 650,000 pound aircraft loaded with 100,000 lbs of jet fuel flying overhead with no pilot.?