Recently, Jose posted:

I snipped the true nonsense part, the "spiral down to death" thing.

Well, then it's not "utter and complete nonsense", there's just a
somewhat nonsensical conclusion. And even that isn't "utter
nonsense", as tail icing which is masked by an autopilot can
=actually= cause a "spiral down to death".

One gets plenty of clues that something is going awry prior to this
happening. If those clues are ignored...

Mx has his flaws, but this group has taken to attacking everything he
says, no matter whether it is totally wrong, somewhat wrong, or just
has a spelling error, and also attacking him ad hominum. This is
unacceptable behavior, and is also counterproductive (it increases
noise).

As I see it, the group treats everyone posting here with the same kind of
scrutiny, and usually only becomes beligerent when they are grossly
insulted, so in that light let's not overlook Mxsmanic's *many* insults to
group members, explicit and implied.

Not with all autopilots. Some S-Tecs don't use trim.

True. One must be aware that one is or isn't using that kind of
autopilot. The basic point however is still valid. Autopilots can
hide a developing problem, sometimes leading to an unpleasant
surprise.

It appears that you are describing another form of pilot error. If one
believes that they can set an autopilot and then take a nap, *that* is the
problem, not the behavior of the autopilot.

IMO, a pilot must understand the behavior of their equipment, be it FADEC,
autopilots, aux fuel systems, or whatever. Given that so few accidents can
be charged to the failure of these devices, it may be reaching to claim
that some unreasonable level of danger is presented by their use.

Neil