How Does Autopilot Work? A Pilot Explains What It Can and Can’t Do | WSJ Booked

Think of autopilot like cruise control on a car.

Autopilot is used on nearly every flight, but it’s not obvious just what it does. American Airlines Capt. Sonya Laxo explains the tech behind autopilot, how it’s used and why it isn’t really “auto.” Photo Illustration: Laura Kammermann

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#WSJ #Aviation #Autopilot

[justtheguy]

Thanks to flying on FSX and P3D, I knew most of this, but I love how clear and concise she was. She must be an amazing pilot!

[mark]

Let's thank Microsoft Flight Simulator for making noobs like me understand what these professional pilots are talking about.

[rccguy]

You said the 737 max crashes "was an issue of pilot error along with software". thats not true. Pilots were never told of the MCAS system in their planes and thus were very confused as to how the plane responded causing the crash. Boeing negligence killed those people

[Thebreakdownshow]

Autopilot is one of many things that have helped make air travel so much safer. ESPECAILLY ON LONG FLIGHTS.

[hrunx]

Indeed, the Autopilot does not have a role of thinking, reasoning and decision-making. It executes the pilots' instructions and directions.

[jimbojet]

Pilot: “autopilot is just a tool that we use, pilots are still actively monitoring and focusing on aviating, navigating, and communicating the whole flight”
WSJ: “in conclusion, pilots only fly for 3 minutes per flight”

[bricearmeltonde]

Come on WSJ, everybody knows a captain should have 4 stripes and not 3!

[JinNani]

That last comment from her 😂 so you are basically there to taxi the aircraft?!?

[auro]

how american airlines and boeing introduce unique advertising techniques. wsj, show how early autopilots worked without electronics

[Avantime]

An autopilot from an airliner is merely the aviation equivalent of lane keep assist and auto lane switch to follow a specified route, with no obstacle sensing abilities (e.g. traffic, terrain and bad weather). The more modern integrated systems (e.g. Flight envelope protection) also protects against the pilot from going too fast or too slow, or turn too hard. Sometimes that malfunctions, as seen in Boeing's MCAS debacle.

There is some research into Tesla-style autonomous flying capabilities, such as Garmin's emergency autoland, but they're nowhere near as cutting edge (e.g. no camera/LIDAR and little machine learning) as autonomous driving, and are limited to drones and small private aircraft. The US airline industry and regulators have gotten comfortable with the 2-man flight crew system, as proven by the lack of major fatal accidents in the US since the 2009 Colgan crash.

[FineNaturalHairROCKS]

This is so good to know! Thank you for posting this video!!

[_Crew]

Very cool! As a flight sim pilot who also flies Boeings, this is really cool to see someone explain this to people who may not know as much about aviation. I really like to help and see people help others overcome their fears of flying.

[ThePeanutGiant]

I would've imagined pilots would steer clear of naming something in the cockpit "the box, " given the existence of black boxes and when they're helpful...

[timothychng]

Tesla should include this as part of their Autopilot User Manual.

[markerzuahsiam]

Thank you for this valuable information.

[arjunpatel]

5:49 I highly recommend you re-edit this video when you refer to the MAX crashes and cite "pilot mis-steps". It was proven to not be the pilots fault at all in these crashes, rather Boeing and their concealment of the MCAS software. In the case of Ethiopian 302, the did everything right to turn off the MCAS, but only had 7 seconds to process and react to the software before it was too late. Therefore it is not fair to blame the pilots of those crashes in this video under any circumstances. I suggest you be more careful of how you refer to tragic incidents like this in the future.

[lucasstuart-chilcote]

The auto pilot also can’t read the weather and “recalculate” the route.

[Tawkitoutti]

If i remember correctly, it was actually the physics of the engine placement on those planes that caused those 2 crashes. Yeah, they programmed the computers to compensate for bad physics, but that's like building a car whose front wheels face all the way to the right and have the cars computer set them straight. as soon as that computer fails, your wheels will veer to the right and now you're crashed. and the computer always fails eventually. its like Jurassic park all over again.

[ImYourAverageJoe]

Pilot missteps? They didn’t know about mcas!

[ACPCJVABthAW]

while on flight and auto pilot is engage, if there is turbulence or plane hit the dark weather, is the auto pilot automatically dis engage? or the pilot manually dis engage?