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I don't think this accurately considers how the term "autopilot" is actually used in aviation. Autopilot can mean anything from "hold a gyro estimated heading b
by jniedrauer 8y ago
I don't think this accurately considers how the term "autopilot" is actually used in aviation. Autopilot can mean anything from "hold a gyro estimated heading but not pitch or speed" to "maintain airspeed and follow the localizer down a glide slope while cross checking GPS and ILS."
> if it needs you to intercede there is pretty much no emergency in which you wouldn't have a few seconds to react.
Traffic avoidance is certainly one. Airspeed dropping while the autopilot tries to maintain altitude is another. This can result in a stall and complete loss of control under the wrong circumstances.
Autopilot does not mean "read a book and let the plane fly itself." You are always cross checking instruments, visually scanning for traffic, running checklists, rehearsing your next steps, etc.
- CamperBob2 8y agoIt doesn't matter how it works in aviation. It matters how people think it works in aviation. There was nothing OK about Tesla calling their system "Autopilot."
- danaliv 8y agoYou're absolutely right, but the issue isn't what an aircraft autopilot actually is. It's what the word "autopilot" evokes in the minds of the non-pilot public. To them, autopilot means fully automated with no oversight. ("Planes fly themselves!" and other such nonsense.)
- toomuchtodo 8y agoPlease don’t force marketing to conform to the lowest common denominator. People have some responsibility to educate themselves about the products they’re using.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- threeseed 8y agoYou are being ridiculous. The definition of autopilot has been this way for decades. You could literally ask anyone of any age what it means and everyone would have the same answer.
- erikpukinskis 8y agoThat's not true.
- pretendscholar 8y agoThe lowest common denominator is driving. A driver's license is way easier to obtain than a pilot's license.
- perilunar 8y ago> Airspeed dropping while the autopilot tries to maintain altitude is another. This can result in a stall and complete loss of control under the wrong circumstances. This happened to me in X-Plane (sim) the first time I used autopilot. I had dialled in a rate of climb the plane couldn't maintain. Very hard to recover from a stall when the elevator trim is set fully nose up.