@DownIn3Green
"Resar...Rubbish ref "the aircraft is not unmanned, the operator is on the ground"
One of my first sim sessions during F/O upgrade training was "he does well but tends to overcorrect the sim...I'm sure this problem will correct itself once he feels the VERTICAL ACCELERATION IN THE ACTUAL A/C"...
So true...a ground operator can't react to gusty x-winds or nasty up/down drafts..."
No doubt true, but completely irrelevant.
The autopilot is there to fly the aircraft. The question is, why could the crew of the AC in question not use its autopilot to save their lives?
You most likely know far more than me about the details of how much programming, physical manipulation etc is required to setup the presently installed AP and its limitation wrt to 3D nav, approach and landing.
My point is that we now have new autopilot technology (as can be observed in UAVs) which can navigate an aircraft completely autonomously, and of course the autopilot may be manually controlled from the ground (anywhere in the world) with a variety of existing comms links with (for example) click and drag waypoints, climbs, descents, and various configuration changes with ease.
Some people may believe that UAVs or their control systems are still inherently unreliable or do not have the full functionality required for complete flights. This is however demonstrably untrue, but the same fundamental technical and human system problems are present in UAV operation as with conventional piloted aircraft. This should not be seen as a reason to dismiss the technology and its potential to increase safety in situations such as the topic of this thread.