I might be being thick but why's it desirable for companies to take pilots out of the cockpit? (from a military perspective it obviously makes total sense, given the nature of operations) If as, is being suggested here, there'll still be a need for monitoring, you're still going to have to be paying wages, and, presumably, they'll still need to be trained to the same/similar standards as now in the event that they're required to 'step in'? And surely the less interaction a remote pilot has with the machine, the more difficult it will be to retain necessary skills and even attentiveness while at the (remote) controls? (safer when all is well, less safe than now when the **** is hitting the fan?)
Should this just be viewed as a step towards removing the man from the process entirely (which, I completely understand, would be desirable for commercial operators)? Are cargo operators really going to be that bothered by such a halfway house?