Why do we have pilots aboard now? For their flying skills? Give me a break, the flying skills if they were there in the first instance, are being eroded at an alarming rate. No the flying skills aren't needed now.
As for problem resolution, it should be able to solved from the ground, should it not?
Passenger appeal? As a passenger and knowing the caliber of a few pilots I know, who in my view should never have been allowed near an a/c I would sleep easier at night knowing they were not at the controls.