Man vs. Machine

[Lax Pax]

Because aviation interests me, and I frequently fly as a passenger, I pay attention to the details of the approach and touchdown of each flight I take. And at the end of each flight I always wonder who actually landed the aircraft: pilot or autoland.

Hence my question. Is there any way we in the back of the plane can, with some degree of accuracy, discern an autoland from a hands-on landing? Any cues or conditions I should be looking for (assuming, of course, that the aircraft is equipped with autoland)? Not an important question, but, hey, it's the Internet.

Thanks in advance.

[RadarContact]

Autolands are usually used only in poor weather/visibility conditions or for training purposes. So listening to the passenger announcement from the cockpit with the weather update might give you a clue... :)

Also, assuming the pilot flying has had a reasonable experience on type, hand-flown landings are usually softer. ;)

Nah, honestly: You'd probably have to ask to be sure.

[wobblyprop]

quote from 'Human performance and Limitations' notes

The computer does better those things the pilot can already do. But, it cannot do those things the pilot would like to do.

I wonder how true this is ;)