Disposable Pilot: Difference between revisions
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One of the most likely casualties in an action or disaster story is the nameless extra who operates a vehicle for the heroes. Whether it's pilots dying in plane crashes (which the main characters miraculously survive), gangsters' chauffeurs getting shot, boats' pilots drowning, or [[Sword and Sandal]] chariot-drivers being trampled to paste by galloping hooves, a character whose role is purely one of providing transportation is many writers' [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|first choice to bite the dust]].
This trope is, in part, a way to weed out superfluous minor characters once they've served their purpose, as well as an [[Red Shirt|easy excuse]] to show off how deadly the heroes' situation is. Can lead to a [[Crash-Course Landing]] if the death happens before the journey's end. If a
In case of actual pilots encountering whatever enemy while in the plane have a tendency to try asking "If you kill me, who's going to fly the plane?" If the villain can in fact fly a plane, that pilot is dead meat.
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* In the novelization of ''[[Robotech]]'' during a recon mission, an explosion rips through a spacecraft with Lisa Hayes, conveniently only affects the pilot's side of the spacecraft.
* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Langoliers]]'', the original pilot and co-pilot were conscious when the plane went through the rift in time and space so they were both vaporized.
* Lampshaded in ''Dream Park'', in which the pilot's "death" in the opening act of the South Seas Treasure Game is dismissed as a "freebie"
== Live Action Television ==
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