Autopilots are great. First and foremost, they’re safety-enhancing devices. They free us from the mundane, but often consuming, task of simply keeping the airplane where it should be. This allows us to better manage the myriad other things we have to do. Plus, of course, it reduces fatigue. What could be better?
Indeed, that’s all good. But, there’s a downside. Our skills atrophy and we can rapidly begin to rely on the autopilot so much that it becomes a crutch. Shortly after that, we begin to lose the skill we worked so hard to master. Eventually, we might get to the point where we couldn’t pass a checkride without using the autopilot.
