Gents,
Late to the fight, but very good and well informed banter with nary a mud slinging... How un-Pprune! This debate is simmering (although maybe it should rage a little more) across the NAS regions and I 'll cut and paste much of it for later bar-brawls... Pray do keep it up (sts).
As fltlt is clearly out of tuppences, allow me a dime: a few years flying GR1/4s at Goose Bay for 1:00 IMC in a 1:05 sortie, and nothing above 1000ft (for the ILS join) has given me a healthy respect for George, our resident auto-p. That was 500kt, 250ft 4-ship Terrain Following in a 1980s-designed jet using magnetic tape plotted by 21 yr old Navigators on out-of-date maps and hand-held calculators for the WGS conversions.
Years later, a stint on UAVs, with fairly robust 'lost link' logic, did make me marvel at the similarities... It all works VERY well if you plot it right. Almost all (and I know I said 'almost', but give these poor new aircraft type a chance) the LL issues are human-induced... Just as landing 1-4-3-2 on the ILS was (Tonka joke, sorry)...
Big picture: daily how many 777s Auto-take-off - FMS route follow - autoland at Cat IIIB; and never let those web-surfing, non-sterile chatting, tired and under-paid humanoids touch the controls? See link:
YouTube - Cat 3 Landing Zurich...175m Vis
Right now probably 0.5% of those missions that do need pilot alteration; but with Next-Gen, ADS-B, WAAS, etc, the age of unmanned airlines will (my words) be seen in our lifetime. As soon as your car drives you to the airport (5-8 years, driver input optional?), why trust the pilot who auto-drove to the jet too?
Much more to add, but I'll take a few spears first... Always a pleasure.
Cheers FFS