By Paul Bertorelli

When the first so-called “automated” cockpit appeared in airliners more than a decade ago, the concept had what could generously be called a few bugs. This gave rise to a cynical joke about the three stages of autopilot awareness. Stage 1: “Hey, what’s this thing doing?” Stage 2: “Hey, why’s it doing that?” Stage 3: “Oh, it does that.”

With human adaptability a crucial survival skill, it was more expedient for pilots to adjust to the autopilot’s foibles than it was to chase down the gremlins hiding in the software. Fortunately, light aircraft autopilots haven’t yet become so sophisticated that they render the pilot a mere systems manager, but…