Well, I have been annoying people for years with my predictions of pilotless a/c: the progression from 4 or 5 crew to 2, soon one, soon none...should coincide with the last drop of fuel available for the engines. Sort of goes along with the way that pilot lifestyles/pay/working conditions have deteriorated along the way and will probably also coincide with the above.
Four or five pilots sitting about in a lounge, drinking tea. "Captain Prune, flight 6533 is having problems with an engine, Simulator 6, please."
Captain P. enters the sim and straps in, pushes the connect button and connects to the troubled flight, somewhere just short of Paris enroute Frankfurt. He sees the problem with the engine, ensures it has auto-shut-down, reviews the algorithms and proceeds to monitor the approach to Frankfurt. Just for a bit of fun, he takes the controls and flies the approach to the ground, where he returns it to auto as it taxis to the gate. He gets out of the sim and returns to the lounge, looking for his cup for another round, looking forward to his commute home tonight for his next round of days off.
