And you are an idiot. Pilots manage the plane,and yes the planes fly themselves. But when chit hits the fan, pilots earn their money. Those Delta guys that landed on a taxiway obviously could not manage their crisis as good as the NWA crew did.
We REALLY have to stop saying that "planes fly themselves."
WE know what the skiandsurf means, however, when we say this out loud what lay-people hear is that...
"planes fly themselves."
WE mean that the AP holds the wings level and keeps the magenta line on the nose...
what THEY mean is that if we didn't show up for work a mechanic could show up at the airplane, press "go", close the door, and the flight wouldn't even be delayed.
I'm not usually nit-picky, but I think statements like this hurt our standing as a proffession.
Later
PS - I'm not picking on skiandsurf, I think we all have been guilty of making this statement at one time or another.
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