Originally Posted by
JungleBus
Now, all that said. I do regret my choice of words in that one sentence. Not because of anything you or ShyGuy have said, but because some real-life friends who I respect have called me out on it. A far better wording would have been "The autopilot and autothrottles are unusually smooth and precise, relieving the pilots' workload in busy moments and freeing them to perform the most important function in any cockpit, the one task that no avionics package yet devised can do for them: think."
Boy, that would have been a great line! But hey, that sort of thing happens all the time.
A little off topic but, I never liked the word Autopilot. It's a heavy word that's totally inaccurate, and I wish it were called something else. We don't call cruise control "auto-driver," nor do we call LASIK "auto-surgery". But for some reason, this combination of computers, cables, and wires that acts under the absolute control of a professional has been dubbed autopilot. It paints a completely false picture. If it really were an auto-pilot, it would require intelligence and the ability to think, plan, and judge. No amount of engineering can manufacture judgment.
Sam, you have a huge opportunity to, using written words, address millions of people about what we do as professional pilots, and to break down generalizations and misconceptions. It's an opportunity a lot of us wish we could have, but also a responsibility most of us wouldn't want. I hope you have a lot of success, but all I can ask is that you represent us well.