Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Each automation system removes some aspect of the pilot workload. An
unavoidable consequence of this is that the pilot is also allowed to
lose awareness of the aspect that has been removed (if he were not,
there'd be no point in the automation).

A corollary statement to the above is that when a driver sets the cruise-
control in his car, he no longer needs to monitor his speed, and will fail to
notice if the speed in his car begins to change or if he has blows out a
tire. Is this what you do when you turn on the cruise control in your car?

And automation does not require monitoring; that's why it is called
automation. And if it did require monitoring, it would serve no
purpose. The purpose of automation is to make things automatic--that
is, to remove the need for monitoring and intervention.

Reduce, not remove...

From Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1):

au-to-ma-tion [aw-tuh-mey-shuhn] –noun
1. the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by
highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention
to a minimum.
2. a mechanical device, operated electronically, that functions
automatically, without continuous input from an operator.

The purpose of automation is to reduce the amount of human effort and/or time
required to manage a system. But the system still needs to be managed.

In the case of an autopilot, all of the instruments that a pilot uses to
monitor altitude, attitude, course, and direction are still effective whether
the autopilot is engaged or not. When the autopilot is off, the pilot must
monitor and provide input to the controls to ensure the plane continues to
fly at the desired altitude, attitude, course, and direction. When the
autopilot is on, the autopilot provides input to those controls, and monitors
the instruments as well. However, it is still the pilot's responsibility to
monitor the situation as well, and not to simply lay his seat back, go to
sleep, and become the passenger.