Who's Flying The Plane?

[white avenger]

This is something that I find myself asking every time they show that flying Colossus of a S H I E L D plane. I know that Melinda May is supposed to be a pilot, but a plane like that requires an entire flight crew, including pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, and several other people just to keep it running properly. We even see Melinda back in the crew's quarters while they are in flight. NO responsible pilot would leave a plane under the command of an auto pilot to that extent, no matter how advanced and sophisticated it is. Even Tony Stark's Jarvis couldn't handle something like that dependably.

I realize that Joss is probably trying to keep the cast down to a workable number in order to give it a more close knit, intimate atmosphere, but the "Enterprise" had a crew of literally hundreds, and it was still all about the interaction of never much more than half a dozen stars and a passel of Red Shirts. Three or four nameless extras, glimpsed occasionally carrying out the routine duties required of a flight crew wouldn't be too much to expect, and would make the show considerably more believable.

 

[VisionGirl]

I noticed that last time. I figured that it had incredibly advanced automatic pilot capabilities.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

We've seen a couple of random people doing stuff around the plane, and the only time we've seen May flying it was late at night, so it's possible the co-pilot was asleep.

But considering the technology SHIELD has, it's not that crazy to think the plane can fly itself for short periods of time.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

We currently use drones for spying and for bombing attacks, some of which are piloted from the ground but there are others that simply go via GPS waypoints. The technology exists now.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

It is a bit daft really, if the tchnology exists to take off, fly and land a plane automatically why bother having a cockpit? A couple of camera's to dee where you are going would be all that is needed.