Kalitta flies US evacuees back from China

[Roger Roger]

Yeah... me too. Like, a curve road in the mountains with a nice car, sure that can be "fun."

Driving around town from day to day? Bring on the automatic pilot please.

I don’t drive enough to care. I like the idea of manual driving with automatic handholding (lane keeping assist, automatic braking, etc) but my opinion would probably change if I drove more than 5 miles at a time. If I have limited resources I’d much rather pay for no more oil changes, transmission fluid, or gas stations.

 

[ppragman]

I don’t drive enough to care. I like the idea of manual driving with automatic handholding (lane keeping assist, automatic braking, etc) but my opinion would probably change if I drove more than 5 miles at a time. If I have limited resources I’d much rather pay for no more oil changes, transmission fluid, or gas stations.

Exactly.

I'm looking forward to having to drive even less.

 

[NovemberEcho]

I’ll agree with the commute for autopilot. Would probably save me from my future rage induced heart attack on a Long Island highway at the age of 49. But I absolutely love driving. Road trips are among my favorite things to do. When I was in my late teens I used to drive up to Connecticut or Massachusettes, grab a cup of coffee and then go back home. Hell if a vacation destination is less than 8 hours away I usually just drive instead of fly. I will be sad when all manual driving is gone, although I don’t think that will happen in my lifetime.

 

[knot4u]

I’ll agree with the commute for autopilot. Would probably save me from my future rage induced heart attack on a Long Island highway at the age of 49. But I absolutely love driving. Road trips are among my favorite things to do. When I was in my late teens I used to drive up to Connecticut or Massachusettes, grab a cup of coffee and then go back home. Hell if a vacation destination is less than 8 hours away I usually just drive instead of fly. I will be sad when all manual driving is gone, although I don’t think that will happen in my lifetime.

It won't happen in your lifetime, there are still plenty of people that consider driving well as something to aspire to.

 

[Cal Goat]

Jesus. Sounds like a lot of people here turn on the autopilot at 400' and then disconnect at mins. I find it surprising that so many pilots are indifferent to the joys of driving with enthusiasm. Granted, most metro areas with traffic have squeezed the fun out of driving in general but I still enjoy the man-machine interface of analog driving. I figured it would be a more common thread in aviation. We sure as hell didn't get into this business to get rich.

One of my favorite aspects of flying is being in sync with the machine. Especially now that I spend sooooo many long haul hours on automation, the joy of hand flying has only grown stronger for me. It's the same for driving. For whatever reason I really derive a lot of happiness from the analog driving experience. Not that modern cars with their comfort and tech features aren't great, but I prefer more direct involvement with the machine and the decision making process of shifting and steering.