Originally Posted by Bombay Bad Boy
Shy Torque - I get your point, in fact I entirely agree with it! But your missing mine.
I was interested to know that if the crew configured the FMS on the ground, then after take-off, they pressed the autopilot would it fly to destination and land?
Not in current aircraft. All gear/flap/slat selections are still entirely manual, not automatic. Also, an airplane flying in VNAV will climb to the pre-set altitude, but will not start a descent unless the pilot has manually entered a lower altitude in the mode control panel. Oh, and autobrakes need to be set manually. And thrust reverse is manual. And the approach mode needs to be selected manually. And the go-around altitude. And the speedbrakes need to be armed. And...
Of course one could automate all of that quite easily, but then we'll still not be able to have a pilotless passenger airplane, since take-off, weather avoidance (clouds, turbulence), TCAS manoeuvring (even controller-less ATC might not be able to avoid traffic conflicts, I guess), taxiing, and engine start-up need to be automated too. And at that stage we haven't even begun to consider the simplest of emergency scenario's.
No, I think I'll let someone more adventurous than me try that first automated flight.
