What Do Pilots Do When A Plane Is On Autopilot?

An automatic flight control system is described as dumb and dutiful. The success of the autopilot depends on the knowledge of the actual human pilot. Autopilot isn't as "auto" as you might think. It lets a pilot fly without white-knuckling the controls. Like a polar bear, autopilot functions through a negative feedback loop.
The video incorrectly states the direction in which single-axis autopilot guides the plane. The single-axis autopilot keeps the wings parallel to the ground, not perpendicular. Insider regrets the error.
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How Does Autopilot Actually Work?

[@yeshayahuleff7217]

How does auto pilot work? Like a polar bear. Woah

[@epalegmail]

They actually explained that well. Autopilot is an example of control engineering. Control engineering is about reaching a specific thing using very hard math. Some of the first examples people use to explain it, have to do with temperature (the temperature of a cup of tea, or of a shower or of a bear, etc)

[@louisc8873]

yeah homeostasis

[@foblobster8685]

idk i was a bit confused about that part but i am very sleep deprived...

[@alonewalker8128]

Yeah I was thinking same

[@rzbruno]

I was like, lemme grab the popcorn, that's gotta be good :-)

[@masterybox4011]

"They could program it to fly upside down" Autopilot: *has a 30° bank angle limit*

[@thelegendss9919]

*BACC*

[@rasul407]

She clearly watched Denzel Washington’s movie lmao 😆

[@juendsouza]

Lolz

[@shantanu925]

If sensors fail or give incorrect measurements, then computer won't know if the plane is actually banking beyond 30 degrees or not. This is what happened with 737MAX crashes,

[@regulardudegam1ng]

mcas has joined the chat

[@sumedhdolke1497]

This has to be hands down the worst explanation of what autopilot is.

[@jamesjpak]

indeed. Modern airplanes can even take off andf land without human intervention - often better than a human can do so. This video is clickbait bullshit

[@felixpj8h704]

Yeah, a polar bear.

[@thelazerproject]

James Pak nope, takeoff/landings are manual

[@thelazerproject]

Quoc anh Vu Pham thats what i said

[@Tensho_C]

@@thelazerprojectthe 787 is capable of landing and taking off, and Taxiing, but it still requires human check-ups.

[@bro9479]

Next up: How Polar Bears work. Tech Insider: _It's like airplanes_

[@armandenaseem5431]

2:05 I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want your wings perpendicular to the ground...

[@innsj6369]

Armande Naseem woop woop sink rate

[@iAMACUTEBITCH]

@@innsj6369 pull up!

[@qihengng5993]

*bAnK anGle, BANK ANGLE*

[@elliot7753]

Terrain terrain *woop woop* PULL UPPPPP

[@06ek]

Whoop whoop bank angle! Pull up

[@edwinanthony3069]

Autopilot doesnt let a plane fly by itself but it helps it fly the plane without the pilot

[@maiagarrinas46]

I dont think, nvm

[@hellofriends695]

What

[@sebastiannikkolas8497]

You can't literally fly a plane without a pilot. You need flight plan, atc permission etc.

[@ajcook7777]

You explained what an autopilot does however you did not explain HOW it works, autopilots use a little thing invented by Sir Isaac Newton which is called CALCULUS! All parameters of the autopilot are controlled via a PID controller (proportional-integral-derivative controller). Parameters such as air speed, rate of climb, and rate of decent all use calculus to control them. Here are a couple videos to help explain it if your interested, don't feel bad if you don't understand it at first it takes alot of schooling to cover all the material, I'm an operating engineer 4th class (stationery engineer for you older people's lol). I hope this helps! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZzJdo2jqLakn6M kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfUd6Wjgq9gqck

[@edwinanthony3069]

This supposed to be a joke btw, idk if i pointed that out or smth

[@shouryaparashar6920]

2:05, its parallel to the ground not perpendicular 😒

[@kveeder3224]

@@xMisanthropex It's only perpendicular if you want to fall into the ground. These are two perpendicular lines: + These are two parallel lines: =

[@raudel5661]

Forgets about crosswinds

[@xMisanthropex]

@@kveeder3224 okay I understood, It is parallel my mistake

[@IScreenshotNFTs]

@@xMisanthropex stupid. Which school do you go to?

[@lostn65]

same school as Biz Insider

[@tzwacdastag8223]

If polar bears gets that hot then the ice must be Melting under his feet

[@sufiyan5844]

That's the real reason for global warming.....😂

[@tzwacdastag8223]

@@sufiyan5844 lol

[@pug2858]

It was the f**king bears this whole time... (Overheating bears sounds funny though)

[@chindanaipornsing9033]

Tzwac dastag Human’s body temperatures are typically 97.7-99.5 degrees Fahrenheit

[@raudel5661]

Global warming: Exists B52: noice

[@Anonymous-jf2gy]

Nobody: No one: Absolutely nobody: Tech Insider:Polar Bears

[@Anonymous-jf2gy]

@Danny just a joke man. I just found it quite random to mention the words 'polar bear' at least twice in a video about autopilot. Judging by your comment, I can tell that you are a person with no sense of humour and a rather dry individual. So you are the flawed person whose brain has not properly developed. Or you are simply not bothered to watch the video and are an idiot newbie in the comment section.

[@intenseio2351]

@@Anonymous-jf2gy Absolutely savage

[@shapman280]

@@Anonymous-jf2gy funny to write a long sentence over a person who just wrote 8 words because he be spitting facts at you

[@Anonymous-jf2gy]

@@shapman280 *7 words.

[@shapman280]

@@Anonymous-jf2gy one less than your paragraph

[@nicka8718]

hey, here's a wild idea: let an aviation professional explain autopilot!

[@ellawhite5167]

Wait they might actually get a good accurate explanation without dumbing it down to the point of being useless because last time you let it professional talk about Aviation we got that really good you were Times article on the turn on the max

[@KingKunta_]

What... how do you know she isn't one. Regardless this was accurate and informative.

[@cameron-w]

But this was completely accurate. I’d like you to explain this better than the video. The video is completely right and even if it said something differently that how you would say it, it’s not wrong.

[@eggs1632]

Actually there's a huge chance they did research.

[@cameron-w]

Isidro's Aviation yessir

[@StrayFire]

What exactly did you guys exPLANE in this video? I don't feel like this really helps anyone understand an autopilot at all.

[@elonmusk8758]

Yeah u need some background knowledge to really understand this xD

[@Luukboere]

Fahrenheit??? Use metrics as well

[@jdanon203]

@Dacia Sandero guys There are two kinds of countries in this world: those that use Celsius, and those that put men on the moon.

[@ellawhite5167]

@@jdanon203 yeah but they used the metric system to put him on the moon

[@fabianreusch4870]

@@ellawhite5167 ouff hahahaha

[@hemantsarthak]

@@jdanon203Rodriguez their countries that choose sensible leaders and economic policies and then those who chose orNGatuns as leaders and total economic disparity as economic policies while fighting needless wars and creating useless weapons, wasting resources you know maybe better spent putting people on mars maybe this time ....

[@brokentilebench]

Just convert

[@Boneskullzy]

Just feedback loop, not negative feedback loop.

[@ajcook7777]

Yup here is a copy paste of my other comment You explained what an autopilot does however you did not explain HOW it works, autopilots use a little thing invented by Sir Isaac Newton which is called CALCULUS! All parameters of the autopilot are controlled via a PID controller (proportional-integral-derivative controller). Parameters such as air speed, rate of climb, and rate of decent all use calculus to control them. Here are a couple videos to help explain it if your interested, don't feel bad if you don't understand it at first it takes alot of schooling to cover all the material, I'm an operating engineer 4th class (stationery engineer for you older people's lol). I hope this helps! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZzJdo2jqLakn6M kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfUd6Wjgq9gqck

[@lmxnothere]

Actually negative feedback is not wrong either. The plane's automatic control is supposed to regulate based on negative feedback rather than positive feedback (which will tend to overcorrect the flight path by amplifying any deviations from equilibrium)

[@chintanjani]

Polar bear? Wtf! Y’all couldn’t compare it to Cruise Control in cars?

[@JCHarrisx]

You should Celsius degrees too whenever talking about temperatures... it would spare people the google conversions

[@Saturn-uz6jc]

And considering most of the world uses metric.

[@justrandomthings319]

This is an American channel.

[@Saturn-uz6jc]

@@justrandomthings319 And people from all around the world watch it.

[@inferious777]

You mean use Kelvin instead as its the SI unit for temperature?

[@justrandomthings319]

@@Saturn-uz6jc Then if you want your local measurement system, watch your own local channel.

[@danm4320]

This was so dumbed down I felt insulted

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

2:47 "They will kill you" 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

[@Makonnen248]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@misceryyt2897]

1:55: *points at flaps and ailerons while saying flaps are ailerons*

[@One_Piloty_Boy]

I mean....if a plane has flaperons i guuuuess you can say shes technically correct XD

[@notbosa4511]

2:05, 5:14, 1:55 and 3:29 are proof who ever made this knows nothing about aviation. They said "it keeps the wing of the plane perpendicular to the ground." And not parallel to the ground. They said "And haven't handed the yoke over to the robots." and shows the throttle. They pointed to the flaps and called them ailerons. They said "If someone programs it wrong you could fly upside down." Yet it has a 30° bank angle.

[@lostn65]

it keeps the wings perpendicular to the ground? That would mean the plane is on its side.

[@blu_e1910]

American airlines flight 191

[@darthmasterwindu116]

*BANK ANGLE*

[@futurepilot5287]

its actually pointless to have a pilot holding the yoke for hours just to fly in course and straight level. With the autopilot, they can do their actual important work like monitoring instruments, inspecting systems and communicate with ground.

[@Myrtone]

For most of a flight, they are just flying "in course and straight level", other traffic is (usually) very far away and aircraft are always flown a long way from obstacles.

[@andrewnolte962]

The autopilot reduces the workload for pilots, allowing pilots to focus on other tasks which overall increases the safety and productivity

[@Myrtone]

Especially when travelling continuously along the same vector, or along a plotted course. The vector along which the plane travels can be changed simply by changing the autopilot settings.

[@turbofanct6679]

"And keeps the wings perpendicular to the ground" . _______ . Wut?

[@turbofanct6679]

@@TommyTom21 Indeed

[@fabiansturman7404]

I too like a wing nice and perpendicular to the ground

[@deltapilot4143]

I really have to say, this was a great video and great explanation about an aviation topic and not only some random facts wrongly matched together! As a pilot, I can say there are far too few educational, correct videos about aviation online here. Keep it up with this good work! 👍🏼

[@CloudDayLight]

DeltaPilot 😂 lmaoooo

[@gabrielhii1995]

Next video: Pilots react to how autopilot work by Tech Insider.

[@zkxrpyun]

"Keeps the wings perpendicular to the ground" my brain: "So the plane is always at a 90° bank angle?"

[@NoneTaken]

the ailerons is not located next to flaps it located almost close the wingtip and sometimes spoilers can be used as aileron

[@puroangolano]

Wow very well explained...thanks 😍

[@theirishaxe9405]

So many better metaphors you could have used

[@genraldmoney8171]

The Ailrons are actually not the whole part of the song just the last half of it to the tip.

[@LucaPed94]

there is also the inboard ailerons :)

[@veryselective]

Please use the metric system

[@priyanshu_29]

Atleast include the Celsius temperature somewhere in the video if you're not gonna use it in your main narration.

[@user-yg2up4lg3r]

*MCAS Has Left The Chat*

[@timfarrar531]

Ailerons are along the entire trailing edge of the wing?

[@James-rg1pp]

Tim Farrar Apparently! 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ellawhite5167]

That's what happens when an extra 300 in and a a767 have a good time

[@carbonated_boba]

Nobody: Not a soul: Tech Insider: autopilot is like a polar bear

[@AlessWorld]

2:07 “parallel” not “perpendicular”

[@thegreatafrican3367]

I looove these animations

[@boeing-ys7wr]

Some planes can land automatically. Very few can takeoff but it is possible in some new airliners. You couldn’t program an autopilot to fly upside down, the worst that would happen is that it would disengage, as autopilots have limits to bank, pitch, etc.. There is no such thing as a 3 axis autopilot. Instead there is a yaw damper, which uses the rudder to smooth out the flight. This is why the plane always feels level, even when in a sharp turn.

[@redwingsfan1136]

2:07 keeps wings perpendicular? what plane are you flying?

[@skyforce2132]

Red Wings Fan yeah right???

[@amartyabiswas1682]

So a polar bear runs on auto-pilot. Interesting🤔

[@jimmyjimanambo5014]

Thanks I am pleased with this video,in few months time I will be in my flying school in Australia. Please upload more video on this. It never used to be like this before internet exist. Iam so lucky to be in this time to learn this before hand.

[@ThatAverageMTBer]

The info from this video is so inacurate

[@dkdanis1340]

Dude this is full of bullshit seriously. Autopilot is smart. Modern ones can do approach, make efficient routes, protect from stall, bank angle etc.

[@vimalalwaysrocks]

It seems like Autopilot is similar to turning on the "dumb" cruise control in older cars. When we set cruise at 70mph, the car cruises at the set speed no matter what. We are good as long as the highways are clear and its not a holiday weekend in which case you may want to turn off that cruise mode and hit your gas manually.

[@Myrtone]

Except that that old type of cruise control only controls the speed, it does not steer. Even when that cruise control is on, the driver of a road vehicle still has to hold the steering wheel or the car will hydrocilate*. There is a category of land vehicles of which many can be driven without "continuous hands-on control". Trains are in this category, their drivers do not need to steer. There are buses (known as guided buses) that are also like this when in guided mode, however, unless they have cruise control, their drivers still need a foot on the accelerator. *I got this term from a show called When Cars Attack.

[@calvinnickel9995]

One thing that even that pilot didn’t get is that the autopilot is only a small part of what’s called the flight guidance system. The autopilot is just the thing that you turn on to move the controls. But how do you do that? Most people and even pilots think it’s pushing buttons and changing settings on the mode control panel or flight guidance panel, but what that is really doing is controlling your flight director. The flight director is an instrument on the primary flight display or attitude indicator that consists of two vertical lines (split cue) or two bars arranged in a V (single cue). These move depending on what vertical or lateral mode is selected on the mode control panel and you control the aircraft so that the two lines are centred or the triangular shaped image of the aircraft is nestled in the V bars. So if you want to climb in flight level change mode at a speed of Mach 0.7.. the flight director will tell you what nose up attitude to maintain. If you want to turn to a heading.. it will tilt or displace until you have banked the aircraft the right amount for a standard rate turn. If you are in a lateral navigation mode it will move to tell you how to fly the aircraft for the entire flight plan, even helping you correct for crosswinds. So when this guy talks about “hand flying the aircraft”.. not only can any monkey match symbols, but the flight director has the same pitfalls and like a moth to a flame some pilots follow it absolutely blindly to their doom. Real hand flying is using raw data. No flight director and using the instruments themselves to help control the aircraft. That means you have to see a deviation rather than the flight director keeping you from deviating. You have to think about how much to correct a deviation rather than the flight director telling you exactly how much. You have to watch all of your other instruments (which you should be doing anyways) instead of just one.

[@ultimategaming5597]

They are talking about autopilot while showing a 70s Soviet cockpit with steam gauges.

[@mibj8328]

what if the input of external environment and the autopilot negative feedback become resonance?

[@wynfoster6586]

I thought this was going to be a technical presentation -'generally it uses a sensor to receive some sort of data or input'

[@AluminumOxide]

Those plane models are pretty cute

[@JayJayAviation]

Polar bear? *otto* Pilot 🤔

[@Brick-Life]

good video

[@alabriking]

THANK YOUUU

[@steffenleo5997]

B737 aircraft autopilot system only control 2 axis of flight control Pitch and Roll, is it true? How a bout the yaw?

[@SymptomaticVids]

Not sure what autopilot could fly upside down or write letters in the sky. Last time I checked in the 737 it controlled speed, altitude and your heading but I didn’t see the fly inverted switch. Not sure what the flight plan had to do with it either since the plane will still fly on auto pilot without a flight plan..

[@americanv8ss]

Please fix volume levels.

[@pooie9972]

5:13 narrator: *talks about the yolk* animation: *proceeds to have a robot hand take the throttle lever*

[@afterglowproductions8547]

Uh.... I think what it does is it keeps an aircraft level, at the right speed, and on the right heading. Than the pilot adjusts when instructed to. Correct me if I am wrong....

[@nuclearwarhead9338]

What Autopilot does: It keeps maintain certain parameters of IAS, GS, HEADING, AOA, BANK ANGLE, ALTITUDE (Sea Level or Terrain), SIDE SLIP, ect.

[@wedontknowwhat9818]

yes, because body heat and lateral and vertical movement are totally related

[@koshesaikhosa859]

2:06 keeps the wings perpendicular to the ground?

[@henryd.4802]

"These are the ailerons" *Points at the entire trailing edge of the wing, flaps and all*

[@Halozocker104]

Every video about aviation yall put out i always read in the comments that you got it completely wrong...

[@ShreyanshPanchal]

Feels like narrator is explaining this to her 5yr old & we're just snooping in.

[@elevenaviation]

1:08 the choose of airline was great.

[@gshield3571]

I wanted to know the answer to this but now im not even gonna go amd try find out, 57 seconds in and ive lost track and interest

[@rohangurav7055]

What is an 'a la HAL'? you mentioned it in video.

[@humphrey-7094]

What about "unpiloted" spacecraft?

[@scottibugatti7122]

So, in other words the plane knows where it is because it knows where it isnt

[@westerlywind1035]

You guys know what pitch, roll and yaw are right?

[@dafireking5218]

can u do echo buds vs galaxy buds plz

[@Vishnu-nz3qk]

If a pilot can make the plane spell "I'm a bad pilot" in sky, then he is not bad, he is a master pilot.

[@jarcohen123]

Wow this video was eye opening on exactly how it works thanks

[@kiet4953]

Could anybody tell me what is the name of the movie at 4:15?

[@bbt305]

Isnt the title (WHAT DO PILOTS DO) ? Why is that not the main subject?

[@DanialStreetFighter]

Le me Control Engineer " The magic word is PID controller"

[@switchflip9550]

Aww yes just raise the p and the d terms on a 747

[@stevejessemey8428]

Must say. I love your accent 😀

[@franwex]

I had always thought it is like cruise control. Turns out I was right?

[@MeisterFlieger4677]

Just a short note coming from a avgeek: AUTOPILOT IS JUST LIKE CRUISE CONTROL ON A CAR.....it maintains the Altitude, Speed and direction....except you can change it! U just have to takeoff manually and sometimes land manually!!

[@pulkitgarhwal]

Wait? IDK if saying it perpendicular is right. Help

[@innsj6369]

Pulkit Garhwal Perpendicular implies the plane is pointing straight up or straight down. The word they are looking for is parallel.

[@N1611n]

I normally sit there on the flight deck picking my nose, while reading a book about polar bears.

[@aiwanano6507]

How do people not already know this?

[@madhavangrish1257]

Nice

[@indranilpalit5799]

Hey, 737 max didn't crash due to wrong autopilot input. It was due to the MCAS system which is a part of the autopilot but was not available on the transcript manual for pilots may be Boeing did not want pilots to know about it which resulted in the crash of 737 max.

[@thecameraman8882]

Title:autopilot Awhile later the video:Polar bear.

[@shantanu925]

Title: What pilots do when plane is on autopilot. Content: What is autopilot.

[@zathenakyla4945]

but there is no rocet just sensor and go plat plane???

[@gustyjothaprasert3953]

2:05, you said that the autopilot makes it so that the wing is perpendicular to the ground. I think you meant parallel because if it was perpendicular, I don't think it would be a comfortable flight, right? lol

[@wellingtonharris7504]

It’s vital to define Pitch yaw and roll on a rocket, otherwise a rocket Will go north instead of east

[@riverclay]

“They check it every often and so” boom that’s what pilots do. We didn’t have to know the axis regulations or polar bear anatomy.

[@early7strikeland996]

What is Fahrenheit?

[@Kevin117]

Should an airline company hire based on skill alone or on personal experience and race/sex?

[@lancedu7576]

You don't need a flight plan to use the autopilot!!!! You can just input the heading and/or altitude and/or vertical speed and/or speed...

[@Rc2Go]

If I take everything I learned in this video... I’d be a polar bear.

[@matthewchang5701]

What does this button do

[@ali-tdm512]

0:28 cute polar bear 😍

[@muhammadhazmi8742]

At least please mention temperature both in Fahrenheit and Celcius..

[@cxaviation3313]

Or you could just use an IFR flight plan and use autoland after takeoff

[@Aniket.Ghosh_420]

The Autopilot in Air France flight at 0:27 : We don't do that here

[@AileronAviationFilms]

1:09 That guy is called flugsnug, not flagsung...

[@subhammallik1181]

You Forgot to mention it may fall(crash) because of the manufacturer

[@douglashagan65]

Hook the neural link to the autopilot right now and see if he can get up and walk right now because I think I've indicated since c3 right the neural pathway through the motorway sensory and motorways through c3 go double check that and then check the computer program see if that's up and running okay it looks pretty smooth in that area that seems to be the location now yeah that pressure point that throws through number c3 and c4