I can understand all the frustrations that you engineers are experiencing, and the inevitable outcome that will happen, and I offer my condolences. You have been an important part of aviation from the very beginning and with out your contribution we would not be flying now. I have always gotten on well with the engineers where I work and consider them to be very professional.
All this said, I would encourage you to continue to fight for your current position with- in the industry. My reasons are two fold.
Firstly, I do believe that we all want flight to be as safe as it possibly can, and my experiences have shown that removing the skill and dedication of many of the engineers would be a travesty if taken from the front line. Engineers seem to look at many problems from a different perspective and have taught me many new concepts over the years. Your assistance on many occasions has reduced crew workloads and mine.
Secondly, although I feel this battle you may well loose, there will always be a need for engineers and your skills will evolve as our aircraft have to, and to a high level of technical skill. My remorse is for the position of piloting these newer generations of aircraft. Maybe not in my lifetime, but somewhere in the future, I see my position being made redundant. A pilot less cockpit is not all that far from the truth, and with computers basically flying the aircraft now, removing the human factor will, without doubt, make flying safer. UAV’s are now an important part of military aviation and will continue to improve. Once they have shown their reliability in the field commercial applications will follow.
With the progress of aviation over the last 100 years this just might happen in my lifetime. So you see of all the dinosaurs you may well be the one to survive.
Good luck with your fight.