Driving an FRC robot. Any job like it?

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Poseidon5817

And it pays a lot better than bring a bulldozer driver

Maybe, but not by much. Pilots don't make a whole lot and some of the younger ones have to moonlight another job just to get by.

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

I think forklift driver is closer than airline pilot. The latter is more a monitor of things than actually operating something.

No. There are two reasons this isn't so:

1. Most aircraft that I've seen still use manaul control for landing and takeoff.
2. If Autopilot fails or there is a problem, guess what? Pilots take manual control! The "autopilot fixes all" mentality has actually been the likely cause of fatal plane accidents, such as Adam Air Flight 574.

So while in practice most of the air time is automated, you still have to get in and out of the air, and if anything breaks, you need somebody to manually fly the plane.