Regrettably it is all about statistics. It has long been established that there is an 'acceptable' level of loss of life in the transportation world, and I assume that as long as the systems can produce a level of loss of life
below that bar with one or no 'pilots', it will happen some day. When the crash does happen, the outrage of posters on aviation forums and the media will be a torrent, but eventually the flood will subside and it will become 'history'.
Mind you, reading some of the aviation incident/accident reports of late, I wonder if we are
actually better off with 'flesh' in the cockpit
