autopilot, stalls and the like
have we gotten so far out of the hand flying world that an autopilot can be relied upon to save a plane?
I hope not.
I recall driving by KSFO and seeing what was left of the horizontal stabilizer of the 747 that went nuts over the pacific. I'm sure you all remember the one where the plane was on autopilot, altitude hold, and an engine quit...it didn't have enough oomph from the rest of the engines and the plane stalled, and did all sorts of things ending in a near supersonic dive....THEY had enough altitude to recover.
Ihave one question...whenever I call for the "gear down" I also add, LANDING CHECKLIST
I'd like to know if those words were on the CVR.