So if we fit the aircraft out with drone packages, can we have one captain running 10-20 flights, and put only a Flight Engineer in the cockpit just in case? I mean, really, his only truly critical flying skill would be finding the closest suitable airport and landing safely there when something goes wrong with the control link. Ideally, the FE wouldn't even be graded on hours, but x number of touch-and-go and y number of true full stop landings, demonstration of nav skills and ability to perform basic in-flight diagnostics, repairs and contingency workarounds. (Mostly reset tripped breakers, manually deploy landing gear if needed, etc.)
Actually, the more I think about it, the more feasible that sounds for the twin-prop jobs that are a heck of a lot easier to land in sims at least. I know I found it a lot easier to land a real C172 than any sim mostly because I could feel ground effect and had peripheral vision tracking the runway right under the plane and objects being passed for a true VFR gauge of speed, altitude, attitude, etc. to literally reality check the timing of the approach and flare. I don't see any way that could be as easy in something with only relatively small, mostly, front-facing, high-placed windows...especially when the pilot is still way the heck up in the air as the main gear touches down.