Originally Posted by
Mover
Seriously?
On a 737, as soon as you press the TOGA button and clean up, the plane could conceivably fly the entire departure, route, arrival, and approach/landing with minimal intervention (aside from gear and flaps and spinning the altitude bug). You don't think that's close to fully autonomous?
No. Because without the pilots interacting with the gear, the flaps, the speed breaks, the altitude selector, the radar, ATC issued changes to programming, heading when given vectors to final (50% of the time), weather deviations, step climbs, reroutes, holding and landing at any airport that doesn't have, specifically a CAT III, operating would be impossible. There's much more but I think I made my point.