Commercial airlines are already required by law to do a certain percentage of their landings automatically. They just don't tell you...
what you mean is that pilots must remain proficient in Cat 3 and 3a approaches - so they must maintain currency with those procedures by performing one every once in a while. This currency can also be accomplished in a simulator.
Cat 3 and 3a autoland has been around for a long time. (1965)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoland
Trying to do one of these without a co-pilot is ill-advised (1 set eyes on instruments another looking out for the runway environment) - don't forget about radio calls, communication with home base / fuel management / emergencies / etc.
I flew very complex, very large planes - and I can tell you that there is a real good reason for at least two in the cockpit.
j
It is reasonable to suggest that there are other issues in presenting evidence than high resolution. Any other view would be astonishing. But the overwhelming truth is that much of the history of progress in science and in communication can be written in terms of improvements in resolution. That is the big idea here, and it should not be compromised away by shortrun situational considerations. -- Edward Tufte, July 29, 2001
Humans can't just stare at blue sky and unmoving gauges for hours on end - we're not wired for it. Simply threatening to fire people doesn't work. You need to give their brains something to do.
we've been doing this for years... no big deal... my jet had beds in the crew area... certain organizations don't mind you napping at all.
BASIC is the Computer Science equivalent of `Scientific Creationism'.