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" Pilots used to be fking heroes. They all used to be like Captain Chesley &amp;quot;Sully&amp;quot; Sullenberger \u2014 the man who four years ago landed a plane that had lost control of its engines safely on the Hudson River. In a way, at least. They used to receive salutes and glide through the dreams of young boys. But now that within minutes of a takeoff an airman or airwoman can switch the plane onto autopilot and go without handling its controls &amp;#039;til after touching down, the FAA has had to warn them that their over-reliance on the very technological advance that has devalued them is making many aviators sloppy with their ability to manually handle an aircraft. Pilots used to be fking heroes. And that has changed for a variety of reasons, most if not all of which circle around automation. Most passengers know that it&amp;#039;s a computer guiding and running the aircraft. It&amp;#039;s extended pilots&amp;#039; hours. And they get paid less. &amp;quot;Twenty-five years ago, we were a step below astronauts,&amp;quot; one vet told New York in a profile of Sully. &amp;quot;Now we&amp;#039;re a step above bus drivers. And the bus drivers have a better pension.&amp;quot; Even Sully&amp;#039;s heroics have been diluted by speculation that autopilot played a major role in his one-of-a-kind feat. Though Sully, ever the soft speaker, responded to the chatter by saying, &amp;quot;Others in the industry knowledgeable about these technical issues know there are missstatements of fact,&amp;quot; referring to a book. He added, &amp;quot;Greater knowledge is required to fly a highly automated aircraft.&amp;quot; Pilots used to be fking heroes. Though that doesn&amp;#039;t mean they couldn&amp;#039;t be improved upon. Automation has made flying more widespread and safer. But that&amp;#039;s no excuse to not be able to operate the controls yourself. And so the FAA is encouraging them to take a break from the computers during flights to sharpen up their manual skills. Because in the event something does go wrong, it&amp;#039;s important to have a fking pilot at the helm who can not only watch over a computer, but handle the controls so well that if his engines fail he can land the thing safely, on a river if need be. [Via The Star.] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a17388/autopilot-and-the-descent-of-airmen/?click=news>