Nomen Nescio writes:

The autopilot does not move the joystick when you play pretend pilot.
The autopilot DOES move the yoke in my plane.

Well, all planes are not alike, but I'm aware that autopilots often
move the yoke.

How do you know what the ailerons are doing.........EYES.

Oh really? You know exactly how much aileron has been applied by
looking at the yoke? Or even by looking outside at the wing?

Anyway, if you are constantly doing this, why bother with the
autopilot? Just fly the plane manually.

The whole idea of the autopilot is to make it _unnecessary_ to do this
sort of thing. You don't have to look at the yoke or the ailerons;
the autopilot worries about that. You sacrifice your awareness of the
aileron position in exchange for a lower workload.

The smart pilot will _occasionally_ glance at instruments to see if
anything looks odd, but he will not continuously monitor the
autopilot's actions. That would defeat the purpose of the autopilot.

If you glance at the yoke from time to time and you notice that it
seems to always be turned sharply to one side, that may be cause for
concern. If you notice that your airspeed seems lower than it was
before even though your altitude hasn't changed, check your attitude
to see if the autopilot is concealing a power setting that is too low.
Little things like that you can do periodically. But you cannot and
should not stare at the controls continuously just to see what the
autopilot is doing.

To a certain extent, you have to accept that something may escape your
awareness while you're on autopilot. That's why you check everything
carefully before you turn it off, to avoid any surprises. Make sure
it's not straining to keep your wings level or to maintain your
altitude; if it is, find out why before you disconnect.

Unusual moves are very obvious.

No, they are not, as many accident reports prove. That's why an
occasional glance at the controls and instruments doesn't hurt. On
autopilot, the signs of something unusual are different from what they
would be if the autopilot were off. It's especially important to
check everything before you disconnect the autopilot.

How do you know that if you don't actually operate any?

I have operated some vehicles, with an excellent track record for
safety. Safety in aviation is largely a matter of procedures, not
seat-of-the-pants flying.

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