BBD - I think t'was either you or your successor that told me aboot the CAF system - you were both there at the time!
Cannonfodder,
It is not a simple process to delete a crew postion from an aircraft's basic crew complement. The VC10 C1K drills, procedures and documentation were intended for a 5-man basic crew and all had to be changed. An ALM is still required to pre-flight the jet and produce a trim sheet, but at least this can be done with a duty loadie - rather than needing 1 per sortie. I don't believe that the Tristar has ever considered ALM dispatch system and 2 reasons spring to mind.
1. Local AAR sorties are a much smaller proportion of total TriStar flying and consequently no meaningful savings in Sqn ALM maning could be made. As the Sqn will always be manned with one ALM per crew, why do all the work to delete a crew postion for no tangible gain?
2. The ALM has a function on an AAR TriStar to monitor the Air Eng's fuel panel during transfer; a job that is done by the Navigator on a VC10.