Definition
An aircraft system that automatically controls the flight path of an airplane by adjusting the flight controls to hold or capture a selected attitude, heading, altitude, vertical speed, or navigation course. Autopilots range from simple wing-levelers (single-axis) to two-axis systems that also control pitch, and three-axis systems that add yaw control. Modern autopilots typically integrate with the aircraft's navigation and flight director systems and require pilot supervision at all times.
Plain English
A system that flies the airplane for you when you set it up correctly. You tell it what heading, altitude, or course to hold, and it moves the controls to keep the airplane doing that — but the pilot still has to monitor it and stays responsible for the flight.
Context Anchor
You encounter this term when studying onboard equipment, cockpit automation, and pilot responsibility for monitoring automated systems.
Derivation
From 'auto' (Greek 'autos', meaning 'self') and 'pilot' (one who steers an aircraft or ship). Literally 'self-pilot' — a system that steers the aircraft on its own.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces pilot workload on long flights, lowers fatigue, and frees attention for navigation, systems monitoring, and decision making.
Analogy
An autopilot system is like cruise control with steering help: it can follow selected instructions, but it cannot decide whether those instructions are safe or correct.
Intuition Check
Do not assume “autopilot” means the aircraft is flying itself independently. It means a system is carrying out selected control tasks while the pilot stays in charge.
Example Sentence 1
After leveling off at cruise altitude, the pilot engaged the autopilot system to hold heading and altitude while reviewing the approach plate.
Example Sentence 2
The crew planned to disconnect the autopilot system before the final approach so the pilot could hand-fly the landing.