Definition
An aircraft flight control system that automatically maintains a selected attitude, heading, altitude, or flight path without continuous manual input from the pilot. It uses sensors to detect the aircraft's current state and servos to move the flight controls as needed to hold or change that state.
Plain English
A system that flies the airplane for you. You tell it what heading, altitude, or course to hold, and it moves the controls automatically to keep the aircraft doing that.
Context Anchor
Seen in cockpit operation, flight control system descriptions, and maintenance discussions about how control signals move the aircraft’s control surfaces.
Derivation
From Greek 'autos' meaning 'self' and 'pilot' meaning 'one who steers.' Literally 'self-steering.' The name captures the core idea: the aircraft steers itself once the pilot has set the desired flight conditions.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces pilot workload on long flights and allows consistent control, contributing to safer operations.
Analogy
It is like cruise control in a car, but for aircraft control. It can help maintain a selected path, but the driver—or pilot—still remains responsible.
Intuition Check
Automatic does not mean the aircraft is fully independent or that the pilot can stop paying attention. It means the system can move the controls to follow selected commands while the pilot supervises it.
Example Sentence 1
After reaching cruise altitude, the pilot engaged the autopilot to hold heading and altitude while reviewing the approach plate.
Example Sentence 2
Maintenance technicians tested the autopilot servos to ensure they responded correctly to heading changes.