Originally Posted by
Piltdown Man
Mechta - I don’t agree. In fact I’d go along the line that millions of flights have ended incident free purely because there were pilots on board, not in spite of them. Until we grasp what pilots actually do to make up for the deficiencies in aircraft, their systems in the information supplied we haven’t a hope of removing them from aircraft.
Piltdown Man, you are of course right that many incidents have been averted by action on the part of the crew. However if that number is matched by the number of incidents caused or contributed to by the crew, then we are no better or worse off than in a robot airliner.
Mathfox, The saving of 100kg is a bit of an underestimate. Once you take the pilots out, you can get rid of this little lot:
instruments
cockpit controls
switches
armoured cockpit door
flight crew rest compartment
pilots' seats
pilots' luggage
pilots' oxygen supply
all air ducting
all cockpit glazing
windscreen wipers
In other words, strip the cockpit out completely and there is room for another two or three rows of seats. What's more, the area currently occupied by the windscreens can now be the most aerodynamic profile possible, which has got to save a good few tons of fuel each year. Eventually, unless passengers can be persuaded to pay a premium for a view out the front, all airliner's cabins will be like the lower deck of a 747.
If its a cargo aircraft, you won't need the toilets or galley either, unless carrying racehorses and their stable hands, and the latter can probably use the straw like their charges anyway.