[freedumb2003]

You realize all commercial jets are essentially driverless. The pilot is redundant.

The pilot flies because he/she wishes to (to keep experience hours up, just because, etc.).

A human hand need not touch a single instrument from boarding jetwalk to debarking jetwalk.

And this has been true for 20+ years.

[Political Junkie Too]

I'll remember that each time a jet stops and starts periodically throughout the trip the way a car does. Jets have a three-mile separation rule, don't they? That means they have a lot of distance to respond. They also don't have a lot of cross traffic, or other jets suddenly stopping in front of them.

Do the jets also take off and land pilotlessly, or just cruise pilotlessly?

-PJ

[DesertRhino]

Yeah, but at 37,000 feet, Sanford and Son doesn’t run the red light in front of you or change lanes abruptly into you. Airliners are in an extremely low traffic environment. There are between 5k to 10k planes up over America at any given time. And the pilots do spend a lot of time watching, planning, and entering their flight plan.

Automation of cars is ok, for some places and things. But airliners don’t translate well into cars.

[pgyanke]

You realize all commercial jets are essentially driverless. The pilot is redundant.

The pilot flies because he/she wishes to (to keep experience hours up, just because, etc.).

Wrong. When everything goes perfectly, a computer can handle the job. There are situations, though, that require the skill of the pilot and they range from the routine to the extreme. You don't want the "blue screen of death" to result in actual deaths.

[TomServo]

You realize all commercial jets are essentially driverless. The pilot is redundant...And this has been true for 20+ years.

Thanks - but I'll ask a Pilot.

[lacrew]

Yet they still keep a pilot in the seat...must be a reason for that.