In article , Peter Duniho
wrote:

The trouble is that you never hear of the thousands of 'pilot skill'
saves a year.

You also never hear of the thousands of "pilot skill" failures that require
"pilot skill" saves, either. So what?

I'll give you an example: We had an electrical short a few months ago,
causing smoke in the cockpit and cabin. First checklist item for us,
after putting the oxygen masks, is to shut off all electric power.

Had that been a "pilotless airliner," you *couldn't* shut off all
electric power, and the wire would have continued to burn. I doubt it
would have been as uneventful as it turned out with humans at the
controls.