> make safe automated control impossible First, you don't understand the purpose of a flight plan. The purpose of the flightplan safety. You, the captain, are

> make safe automated control impossible First, you don't understand the purpose of a flight plan. The purpose of the flightplan safety. You, the captain, are saying "My intention going from A to Z via K,J and X". You then "activate" your flightplan over the radio upon departure. The purpose of the flightplan is so people on the ground broadly have an idea of where you are and when you'll arrive. The former is to assist with co-ordination between control zones. The latter is so that if the destination airport doesn't see you X hours after your ETA, then they can start searching along the filed route until they find the debris of your crashed aircraft. Second, you need to take "automation" out of your thinking. Flight crew don't just punch the plan into the nav and sit there twiddling their thumbs. Shit happens and the crew might need to deviate from the plan. It happens all day every day. There might be some horrible weather ahead that you want to route around. There might be something happening in the airspace around you that ground might want to route you around. Therefore flight plan merely describes your INTENTION.