Plane Talk Live
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Plane Talk Live
Power Players: Inside the Booming Single-Pilot Turbine Market
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In this episode, we take a deep dive into the robust general aviation turbine aircraft market to explore the incredible range of single-pilot turboprops and jets available to buyers today.
From the rugged, short-field capabilities of the Daher Kodiak and Cessna Caravan to the blistering speeds of the Embraer Phenom 300E and HondaJet Elite II, we break down the performance, payloads, and flexibility of the industry's top models. We also explore the major technological leaps happening in modern flight decks. Discover how advanced avionics suites, along with cutting-edge pilot-assist features like autothrottles and Emergency Autoland, are reducing pilot workload and enhancing safety across the board.
Whether you are a piston pilot looking to step up to a Cirrus Vision Jet, or you need the ultimate "Flying Turbine Suburban" like the Pilatus PC-12 Pro to haul family and gear, this episode covers everything you need to know about the modern turbine landscape. Tune in to find out which power player is right for your mission!
Imagine for a second that you are just hurtling through the stratosphere, right? Like at Mach 0.8.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's fast.
SPEAKER_01Right. And you're just wrapped in this pressurized tube of metal and composite. You're up at, I don't know, 45,000 feet.
SPEAKER_00Just way up there.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And you're surrounded by like millions of dollars of just highly complex avionics. You're constantly looking at weather systems, you're talking to air traffic control, and you're trying to manage the thermodynamic limits of a turbine engine.
SPEAKER_00Which is a lot of work.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell It is. And now imagine you're doing every single one of those things completely alone. Aaron Powell Yeah.
SPEAKER_00No copilot at all.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus Zero. Just you. So today, in this deep dive, we are looking at the absolute ultimate intersection of human capability and machine engineering.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Ross Powell It's uh it's a really remarkable space to analyze, honestly. I mean, we are looking at machines that just push the absolute boundaries of what a single human brain can manage safely. Right. And they're doing it day in and day out in these um highly unforgiving environments. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the margins for error are basically zero. So our map for this journey today is this incredibly detailed analysis uh from the May 2026 issue of Flywhying magazine. It's by Rick Durden, and it's called Power Players, the Turboprop and Jet Market Today.
SPEAKER_00It's a great piece.
SPEAKER_01Really is. Yeah. So the mission here for us is to explore this booming, just wildly diverse world of single-pilot turbine aircraft. We're talking about how manufacturers are basically giving one pilot the ability to command everything from like rugged dirt strip bush planes all the way up to high-altitude luxury jets.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the technology underneath it all that makes that even possible.
SPEAKER_01Right. So, okay, let's unpack this. Because the sheer scale of the market that's highlighted in the source is well, it's staggering. The sales data from 2025 alone shows these massive, massive backlogs of gorders across virtually every manufacturer.
SPEAKER_00Everybody is buying them. Yeah. But to understand, you know, why that demand is exploding like that, we really have to establish an intellectual baseline for what we are actually looking at here.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Lay it on us.
SPEAKER_00So the key distinction in this specific aviation market, it isn't just a simple binary of um propeller versus jet.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's more nuanced.
SPEAKER_00Much more. It's really about how these aviation engineers have tailored these incredibly complex machines to do highly specific demanding jobs. Right. And they have to do all that while strictly managing the cognitive workload for just one single person in the cockpit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because if you overwhelm that one person, things go bad very quickly.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So if we follow that thread of like highly specific jobs, before we even look at the sleek high-altitude pure jets, we kind of have to start where turbine power meets just raw utilitarian dirt.
SPEAKER_00The rugged workhorses.
SPEAKER_01Yes, the rugged workhorses. The Daher Kodiak 100 Series 3 is like the perfect example of this. Oh, absolutely. It's an aircraft that can basically carry up to 10 people and just drop them into a tiny thousand-foot dirt strip in the middle of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01But what really stood out to me in the article is the reasoning behind putting a turbine engine in a bush plane to begin with, like instead of a traditional simpler piston engine.
SPEAKER_00Right. You'd think a piston would be easier to fix in the bush.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. But the source points out it isn't just about raw thrust, it's actually about the reality of global logistics.
SPEAKER_00Ah, the fuel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. In these really remote parts of the world, jet fuel is actually way more widely available than specialized aviation gasoline or avgas.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Ross Powell That Global fuel availability is just crucial. I mean, the Kodiak, it was originally certificated back in uh 2007, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And it was built as a true uncompromised bush plane. So that fuel flexibility, it allows it to operate in the deepest parts of Africa or the Amazon, where Avgas simply doesn't exist. You just can't get it.
SPEAKER_01Wow. So you literally have to run on jet fuel just to survive out there.
SPEAKER_00Pretty much. And Daher recently built on that with the Kodiak 900, which kind of cleans up the aerodynamics, stretches the cabin a bit, and pushes the speed up to around 210 knots. But really, the lineage of this entire rugged utility concept like marrying a turbine engine to a high-wing cargo hauler that really traces all the way back to the Cessna caravan.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, the caravan, the longevity of that plane is just impressive.
SPEAKER_00It really is.
SPEAKER_01I mean, Cessna delivered the first truly successful single-engine turboprop, what, over 40 years ago?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, a long time ago.
SPEAKER_01And the design mandate back then was incredibly broad. They basically said build something that can handle a short, redded grass strip, take off, and then immediately merge into the high-speed traffic flow at a major international airport.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell And that very specific combination of durability and speed. It caught the eye of a really demanding customer early on.
SPEAKER_01Federal Express. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00FedEx. The caravan's operating economics just became obvious to them very quickly. It proved its structural durability by handling the absolute rigors of night freight operations.
SPEAKER_01Which I imagine is pretty rough on an airplane.
SPEAKER_00Oh, night freight is a brutal environment for any airframe. I mean, you were talking about high cycle flying, constantly changing weather, and pilots who just need a machine that works like a reliable tractor, literally night after night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that makes sense. And so if the caravan proved that turbines could survive the night freight grind, the next logical leap was kind of asking if that same rugged utility could be scaled up for human transport, right? Like in extreme conditions.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Which brings us to the Pilates PC-12 Pro. The article notes it was developed in conjunction with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, such a cool backstory.
SPEAKER_01It is. And the nickname the author gives it in the source is just brilliant. He calls it the Flying Turbine Suburban.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. It fits perfectly.
SPEAKER_01It really does because you have this highly pressurized luxury aircraft, right? But it features this massive aft cargo door. Right. You can literally load fully assembled motorcycles into this thing or, you know, medical structures straight into the back of a luxury plane. It's such an insane visual.
SPEAKER_00It really is. But what's fascinating here is the underlying engine mechanics that actually allow a heavy aircraft to haul, you know, motorcycles and a whole family up into thin air from a short hot runway.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah. How does it do that?
SPEAKER_00Well, Dern's analysis specifically highlights how the PC-12's 1200 horsepower engine is what they call flat-rated.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And similarly, he notes that the Dawsard TBM 980, it utilizes an engine with a thermodynamic rating of 1,844 horsepower. But it's intentionally dederated down to 850 horsepower.
SPEAKER_01Okay, wait, let's define what that actually means. Because taking an engine that is fully capable of 1,844 horsepower and deliberately restricting it to 850, I mean, that sounds entirely counterintuitive. Why would you handicap the aircraft like that?
SPEAKER_00Right now, it totally sounds like a handicap. But it's actually this brilliant engineering master stroke to ensure consistent performance.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I'm listening.
SPEAKER_00So first let's define thermodynamic rating.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what is that?
SPEAKER_00That essentially refers to the absolute maximum physical limit the turbine core could theoretically endure, like in terms of internal heat and pressure. Basically, before the metal components literally start to warp, melt, or just fail structurally.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow. So the melting point, basically.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So by de-gurating or flat rating an engine far below that physical limit, you are giving the aircraft this massive reservoir of untapped thermal potential.
SPEAKER_01Uh, I see. Because normally, right, as an aircraft climbs to higher altitudes, or if it operates in very hot environments, the air density drops. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00Right. The air gets thin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And so the engine struggles to ingest enough oxygen and consequently it just loses power.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell Exactly. A standard engine might produce, say, 850 horsepower at sea level on a nice cold day. Sure. But it might only produce 500 horsepower when it's up high in the heat. Right. But a D-rated engine has so much of this reserve capacity built in that as the air gets thinner, the engine simply taps into that hidden reservoir.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that is so smart.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So it can actually maintain its full, legally allowed 850 horsepower, even in thin, hot air. It retains its maximum thrust exactly in the conditions where standard jets would be gasping for air and, you know, struggling to even take off.
SPEAKER_01Man, that structural logic is just brilliant. You basically hold back its maximum output at sea level so it never ever loses a step when it's high and hot.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01But okay, if we move away from these massive turboprops that are designed to haul freight and motorcycles, it raises a really natural question.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell What's that?
SPEAKER_01What happens when you optimize a turboprop purely for speed? Like how fast can these sleek propeller planes get before they basically act like a pure jet?
SPEAKER_00Oh, incredibly fast. I mean, we start entering the territory of what you might call the high-speed hot rods of the turboprop world.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell Okay, who are the hot rods?
SPEAKER_00Well, you have aircraft like the Piper M700 Fury cruising at 301 knots and the Epic E1000 AX, which hits a blistering 333 knots.
SPEAKER_01333 knots.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the Daher TBM 980 and 960, the article says they're flying at 330 knots too. The author actually explicitly points out that these speeds are faster than some light pure jets.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they really are.
SPEAKER_01And yet the pilot doesn't need to undergo that rigorous process of getting a specific jet type rating to fly them.
SPEAKER_00That's a huge selling point.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And cabins on these high-speed cruisers are also engineered really differently, like the epic E1000 AX. The source says it has a cabin so unusually roomy that it accommodates pilots who are literally six foot eight.
SPEAKER_00Which is rare in small planes.
SPEAKER_01Very rare. And the passengers in the club seating in the back, they don't even have to interlace their legs. And they also utilize these Lee aerospace cool view windows, which block at least 73% of infrared rays.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know that window technology isn't just about keeping the passengers comfortable. No. No, it's actually a critical system for a high-altitude aircraft with a massive greenhouse like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_00Because by blocking that much infrared radiation, it drastically reduces the thermal load inside the cabin.
SPEAKER_01Oh, which takes the strain off the air conditioning.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. It reduces the physical strain and the power draw that's required by the aircraft's environmental control systems.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell That makes a lot of sense. Now, speaking of the Epic E1000 AX, there is a backstory here that I found highly unusual for this class of aircraft.
SPEAKER_00The kit plane origin.
SPEAKER_01Yes. The source notes it started as an experimental kit plane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, DIY plane, basically.
SPEAKER_01Wait, a 333-knot pressurized aircraft flying at 34,000 feet started as a DIY kit. How does a buyer even trust that? Like transitioning an airframe from the experimental kit category into a fully Part 23 certified aircraft with an advanced Garmin G1000 NXI flight deck, I mean, that's a notoriously brutal regulatory and engineering hurdle.
SPEAKER_00It really is.
SPEAKER_01How did Epic actually pull that off without stripping away the raw performance that made the kit popular in the first place?
SPEAKER_00Well, it is a massive hurdle. Earning Part 23 certification means proving to the FAA that the aircraft meets incredibly strict standards.
SPEAKER_01Right, like crash tests and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, structural integrity, stall characteristics, system redundancy, all of that. But Epic had a very distinct advantage built into its core architecture from the start.
SPEAKER_01What was that?
SPEAKER_00The entire airframe is constructed from carbon fiber composites.
SPEAKER_01Oh, right. And Durden points out that because of that all-composite airframe, the Epic isn't subject to the pressurization cycle life limits that plague traditional metal airplanes. So wait, how do metal planes age differently?
SPEAKER_00Well, when a traditional aluminum airplane climbs and the cabin pressurizes, the metal fuselage physically expands. Kind of like a balloon.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that sounds terrifying, but go on.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. It's normal. But then when it descends, it contracts. So over thousands of flights, this constant expansion and contraction causes metal fatigue.
SPEAKER_01Ah, I see.
SPEAKER_00The metal literally work hardens and it can develop these tiny micro cracks. Which is exactly why metal airframes have strict legally mandated life limits. They have to be retired eventually. Wow. The composite materials, on the other hand, they consist of continuous carbon fibers that are woven and baked in a resin matrix.
SPEAKER_01So they don't expand the same way?
SPEAKER_00Right. They distribute that pressurization stress entirely distantly. So they do not suffer from the same type of cyclic fatigue.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the composite structure offers this tremendous longevity and strength without a weight penalty, which really explains how they achieve that full fuel payload of 1170 pounds. But okay, if we have these turboprops utilizing carbon fiber to fly faster than 330 knots, it kind of begs the question what justifies the leap into pure single pilot jets? Like if the props are going that fast, what exactly are the pure turbine aircraft doing to justify their existence and stay ahead of the pack? Let's cross over into the pure jet world.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's do it. So this is where manufacturers begin targeting very, very distinct mission profiles. Missions that require speeds or altitudes that propellers simply cannot achieve.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Take the Cirrus Vision Jet, for example, the SF 50. Yeah. Cirrus has delivered over 700 of these by targeting a very specific demographic, first-time jet owners stepping up from their high performance piston planes, like the SR-22.
SPEAKER_01Right. And a huge part of the appeal for that specific buyer stepping into a jet for the first time is the safety net of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, right? The CAPS. Absolutely. The source mentions the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association credits this parachute system with saving 290 lives in 144 crashes across their fleet.
SPEAKER_00It's an incredible statistic.
SPEAKER_01It really is. I mean, knowing you have a solid propellant rocket capable of deploying a massive parachute to safely lower the entire jet to the ground, I mean, that fundamentally changes the psychological equation for a single pilot who's flying their family.
SPEAKER_00Without a doubt, it's ultimate peace of mind. But for those buyers who are looking to push the speed envelope rather than just, you know, the transition envelope, there is the Embryer Phenom 300E.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, the Phenom.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the Phenom 300E operates in just a totally different stratosphere. It is the fastest and longest range single pilot jet in production right now. It hits Mach.8 and operates all the way up to 45,000 feet.
SPEAKER_01Just incredible numbers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It is designed for maximum efficiency at high altitude. But you know, efficiency can be achieved in different ways, which brings us to the Honda Jet HA420 Elite 2, and it's radically different physical design.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Here's where it gets really interesting for me. The Honda Jet features these over-the-wing engine mounts.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it looks so unique.
SPEAKER_01It really does. Almost every other business jet in the world mounts the engines to the rear of the fuselage, right? On the tail.
SPEAKER_00Yep. But Honda placed them up on these pylons directly above the wing. Like think of it like moving a boat's outboard motor from the center of the transom and instead strapping your hiking backpack to the roof of your car instead of stuffing it in the back seat.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh. That's a good way to picture it.
SPEAKER_00Right. It keeps the main interior hull completely free for passengers, which gives the Honda Jet the largest cabin in its class. But aerodynamically, it does something totally counterintuitive, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01It really does. See, at highly transonic speeds, the air rushing over the top of a wing accelerates. Okay. And that can create a localized shockwave that drastically increases drag, what we in aviation call wave drag. But by carefully placing that engine nacelle in a very specific location above the wing, the aerodynamic interference actually delays the formation of that shockwave.
SPEAKER_00Wow, really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It improves the aircraft's top speed and its fuel efficiency.
SPEAKER_00That is just brilliant engineering. Now, while Honda tackled aerodynamic efficiency, Pilates tackled the runway itself.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, the PC-24. Exactly. We discussed their PC-12 turboprop earlier, but Pilates also produces the PC-24, which is a twin jet designed for a single pilot. And the craziest part, it can officially use unimproved dirt runways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because jet engines are notoriously fragile when they're operating near dirt or rocks or debris.
SPEAKER_01Because they just suck everything up.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. The intakes act like giant vacuums. So sucking a rock into a compressor stage that is spinning at 30,000 RPM, that is catastrophic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd imagine that's a bad day.
SPEAKER_00Very bad. So to engineer a jet that cruises at 440 knots, but can also safely land on dirt, that requires brilliant Swiss engineering.
SPEAKER_01How did they do it?
SPEAKER_00Well, they mounted the Williams engines and usually high on the rear fuselage. That keeps them out of the dust cloud kicked up by the tires. And then they paired that with a beefed up trailing link landing gear.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And that gear absorbs the craters and the imperfections of an unpaced strip without destroying the airframe.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. And just for contrast here, Durden briefly mentions the big iron out there. The two crew giants, like the Bombardier Global 8000, flying at Mach.95. When you put that next to the PC-24 or the Phenom, it really puts into perspective what a marvel these single pilot jets are.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I mean, they're executing incredibly complex missions, flying at Mach 0.8, landing on dirt, hauling heavy payloads, all with only one human brain in the left seat.
SPEAKER_00Which actually brings us to the most critical aspect of this entire technological landscape we're talking about today.
SPEAKER_01The human element.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Because whether it's a rugged Kodiak navigating a snowy mountain pass or a phenom flying at 45,000 feet, there's a fundamental human limitation at play here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there is a massive elephant in the room. How does one person manage all of this without becoming completely task saturated? The speed, the altitude, the pressurization schedules, the weather radar, the engine limits, how do you do it safely without a copilot sitting next to you?
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell Well, the reality is that there is a copilot. It's just invisible.
SPEAKER_01The avionics.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. The avionics have evolved over the last decade to take on that role.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Across all almost all the manufacturers analyzed here, you see the Garmin 3000 and the NXI Suites acting as the central nervous system of the aircraft.
SPEAKER_01And the specific features managing that workload are just incredible. Like you have auto throttles that automatically manage the engine power to maintain specific speeds. Yep. You have Piper's automatic level mode, which is wild. If a pilot succumbs to spatial disorientation, you know, where the fluid in their inner ear lies to their brain about which way is up, they just push one prominently placed button and the autopilot instantly takes over to return the plane to straight and level flight.
SPEAKER_00It saves lives.
SPEAKER_01It has to. And then on the Embraer and Honda jets, you have runway overrun awareness and alerting systems.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, R O A. Yeah. That system is constantly calculating the aircraft's current weight, its approach speed, and the remaining length of the runway.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And if the computer determines that the pilot is carrying too much kinetic energy to stop safely before the pavement ends, it alerts them to abort the landing immediately.
SPEAKER_01Wow, it does all that math in real time.
SPEAKER_00In milliseconds. Daher even officially branded their system the EcoPilot, which constantly monitors the flight envelope and automatically manages things like the icing protection systems.
SPEAKER_01But the pinnacle of this, of course, is the safe return or emergency auto land function.
SPEAKER_00Oh, without a doubt.
SPEAKER_01It is currently available or in development across so many of these platforms now, from the Piper M700 to the Sears Vision Jet. And this system is capable of taking over completely. Like if the pilot is incapacitated, a passenger just pushes a guarded button on the ceiling, and the plane will autonomously calculate a route to a suitable airport, communicate its emergency to air traffic control via synthesized voice.
SPEAKER_00It avoids adverse weather on its own, too.
SPEAKER_01Yes. It avoids the weather, configures the flaps and landing gear, and lands the plane completely unassisted. It brings it to a full stop right on the center line. It is pure science fiction made real.
SPEAKER_00It really is.
SPEAKER_01But looking at all this automation, I have to ask you. Oh with systems that monitor the envelope, automatically manage engine icing, flawlessly adjust the throttles, and literally land the plane in an emergency. Is the pilot just becoming a glorified button pusher at this point?
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. I hear that a lot. But if we connect this to the bigger picture, that is a fundamental misunderstanding of what aviation technology is actually designed to do.
SPEAKER_01Okay, correct me then.
SPEAKER_00The technology does not replace the pilot, it protects the pilot's cognitive bandwidth.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Unpack that a bit more for me.
SPEAKER_00Think about the macro environment up there. When you're flying a jet at Mach.8 through the flight levels, physical space is being devoured at a terrifying rate. Things happen fast. Right. You need the human brain focused entirely on managing the overall mission and evaluating the environment. You need the pilot anticipating evolving weather systems 100 miles out, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00You need them planning descent profiles with air traffic control and making high-level strategic decisions. You do not want their limited mental bandwidth tied up manually adjusting throttles for a 10-knot speed change, or constantly tweaking fuel mixtures, or calculating runway stopping distances in their head while they're flying the plane. The technology handles the highly precise, mechanical, and repetitive tasks. It elevates the pilot from a manual stick and rudder laborer into a strategic systems manager.
SPEAKER_01So what does this all mean if we pull everything together for you listening, whether you are, you know, an aspiring pilot studying these machines or just someone managing incredibly complex projects in your daily work? The ultimate takeaway here is really about workload management.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Aviation has basically figured out how to give one single person the tools to safely command millions of dollars of hardware hurtling through the sky at 400 miles per hour. Yeah. And they achieved that by relentlessly prioritizing the user interface, aggressively automating the mundane tasks, and building in the Redundant safety nets that catch human air before it becomes catastrophic.
SPEAKER_00It is a masterclass in human machine interface. I mean, knowledge and critical thinking are essential in any information heavy environment. And a modern cockpit is essentially a fire hose of data.
SPEAKER_01I can only imagine.
SPEAKER_00These aircraft are engineered to filter out the noise. By letting the computers handle the raw data processing and the physical execution of mundane tasks, the human is freed up to do what only humans can do: make the critical, nuanced, strategic decisions.
SPEAKER_01Which leaves me with one final thought for you to mull over today. We've spent this entire time looking at how this brilliant technology supports and protects the single pilot. Right. But if these single pilot jets are now equipped with emergency auto land systems that can safely route a plane, negotiate with air traffic control, and land a jet completely unassisted to save the occupants? How long until the single pilot in the front seat is deemed entirely optional for commercial passenger flights?
SPEAKER_00That's the big question.
SPEAKER_01If the computer has proven it is the ultimate fail safe, the ultimate reliable entity in the cockpit, at what point does the human become the backup?