[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Who is going to fly the airplane???

We've pregressed quite a bit since the 1940's when the pilot had to have his hands on the control stick at all times. Now we have such things as autopilot as well as multiple people in the cockpit, all of them capable of taking control of the plane if they had to.

[Hunble]

Do they still need a pilot in a modern airliner?

Ok, for the taxiing between the runway and the loading gate, they are still needed.

Today, the better airliners can fly and land on a runway without any assistance from the pilots. In many ways, a modern airline pilot is in the cockpit to simply monitor the computers.

P.S. Please do not tell them that, they think they are important.

[JETDRVR]

"We've pregressed quite a bit since the 1940's when the pilot had to have his hands on the control stick at all times. Now we have such things as autopilot as well as multiple people in the cockpit, all of them capable of taking control of the plane if they had to."


Uhhhhhhhh sir I do this for a living! Gulfstreams Falcons Citations so yes Im quite familiar with automation on todays aircraft. My point is in a worst case scenario eg: Camel jocks in question manage to kill A. the sky marshals B. both pilots.......arming pilots will only take them away from their primary dutys flying the airplane. We need to solve the more important issue of placing shooters in the back of the acft where they should be!