Originally Posted by
Name User
Statistics say we are much safer even with the occasional failure and crash.
There have been non fatal crashes recently caused by pilot error such as the 777 Asiana in SFO. Pilots make a ton of errors every day that the system captures either due to slop or technology. TCAS, GPWS, controllers noticing, etc.
The flip side of that is automation also makes errors (or just plain clicks off) which pilots correct without even thinking much about it. Current aircraft could in no way begin to function autonomously.