[Merad]

I dunno, the current approach seems quite reasonable. In the grand scheme of things the overwhelming majority of the Earth's surface is empty space where a plane crash is unlikely to cause much damage. You also have the complication that military pilots usually try to make sure their plane will crash in a "safe" area before they eject - many have died because they waited too long to eject trying to avoid a populated area. Giving the plan a mind of its own after they pull the handle would be unlikely to go over very well. I believe the scenario of a pilot ejecting from a perfectly good plane that keeps flying for more than a few seconds has only happened perhaps a dozen times in the entire history of aviation? Not really worth worrying about.

[toast0]

> You also have the complication that military pilots usually try to make sure their plane will crash in a "safe" area before they eject - many have died because they waited too long to eject trying to avoid a populated area. Giving the plan a mind of its own after they pull the handle would be unlikely to go over very well.

If the plane could be trusted to do the right thing, maybe some of those pilots would have ejected where it was best for pilot survival and let the plane do what was best for bystander survival.

That's a good reason to consider what behavior is desirable and achievable when the pilot departs before landing. Possibly also useful if the pilot loses conciousness as well.