Just a memory.
I took a long trip in my P85D soon after I bought it. I landed in Columbus, Ohio where I had a client, so the car stay a while. As I was setting off to make the return trip my car had an update to make. I was blown away since I knew that updates existed but had not had anything much. This one included autopilot, for the very first time. I was elated as I began the long trip from Columbus, Ohio to Miami, Florida.
It actually kept lanes!! Imaginer that!! The near Cincinnati there was road construction, but the new autopilot managed the diversions. my confidence was high.
A day alter, another construction diversion and it did not manage so well, so I narrowly avoided a major collision with a bridge pier under construction.
Probably this is relevant to nothing much. To me it reminds me what an autopilot is and does.
I had two prior overconfident near disasters.
First, my first airplane was a Trinidad TB-21. It could go high, and had supplemental oxygen since it was not pressurized. I was making a coast to coast trip, my first since getting an IFR rating. I brought along a less experienced polio friend (less experienced than me!! I had less than 200 hours flying). Flying along near Dodge City, Kansas my friend accidentally disconnected the autopilot while we were in clouds at FL210, the highest I had ever flown. I recovered, my friend was terrified (I wasn't??). Then I learned not to trust a convenient co-pilot.
Second, I owned a Lear 25D equipped with the 'marvelous' APS 80 autopilot, a huge advance over the OEM monstrosity, but still with a single point of failure. Flying along peacefully at FL410 one day, the point of failure happened and I suddenly had no autopilot. In that model the autopilot was required at above FL350 because that aircraft had a notoriously tiny 'coffin corner'. There I was hand flying, suddenly, at max Mach and FL410 with a tiny, tiny coffin corner. In the end I managed a descent, lived, but never again thought an autopilot was anything beyond and
aid to a pilot.
When I think of Tesla Autopilot I recall those two indcidences with airp[lanes and my first near miss with a Tesla.
Moral: Always pay attention. There is nothing wrong with the name. There is often something wrong with operators.
FWIW, I have never again made those mistakes but I have had other people who were making those mistakes crash into me, once. I had another person driving my car who did not pay attention and severely damaged my five day old P3D. The car was repaired and was great. Not so much was I happy with that person.
Moral Again: ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION: anything man-made can and will fail.
