I'm glad you bring up the automation issue NewModel, as that is one of the very areas that de-skilling will one day prove fatal..........what happens if the automated system is taken away?
I remember the analogy of future cockpits having a pilot and a dog in there. The dog to bite the pilot if he touches anything and the pilot there to feed the dog.
One of the major times when all the experience and knowledge a controller may need to draw on is when you hear those very words "Mayday, Mayday". You can automate everything up the yin-yang, yet every problem is unique.......and probably wouldn't help our friend in N9815L.