Autopilot

An autopilot is a system that holds an aircraft on a desired flight path with reduced need for constant manual control, assisting rather than replacing the pilot so that attention can shift to monitoring the aircraft's trajectory, weather and onboard systems. Lawrence Sperry of the Sperry Corporation developed the first practical aircraft autopilot, a gyroscopic system linking heading and attitude indicators to hydraulically actuated elevators and rudder so the aircraft could hold a compass heading and level flight unattended; he demonstrated the device publicly in 1914. Autopilot technology matured over subsequent decades, and in 1947 a United States Air Force C-53 completed a transatlantic crossing with takeoff and landing performed entirely under autopilot control, while Bill Lear's F-5 automatic pilot earned him the Collier Trophy in 1949 for advancing the technology.