Good points all, but I still ask the question; are we not the final insurance policy when things go wrong? It may not be autopilots that fail, but rather a subsidury system that does not allow their use. Is it not the case that the pax should expect us to be able to cope with situations where flying skills are required. When the manure hits the air conditioning should we not be able to cope? Smoke filled cockpit etc, or jammed controls. Is that not what they pay for in some part of their ticket?
Should we not be able to land an a/c with 2 engines where the only problem was a blocked static vent? It was a flying a/c with all flying controls functional and all engines. Indeed, after that B757 accident, how many of us were allowed to try it in the sim and learn for someone elses misfortune? Was there not a case recently where there was a pitot problem giving rise to spurious indictaions. I can't remember if they got airborne or aborted; but things can go wrong aloft in any case. We don't all fly brand new shiny NG a/c.