In effect, you're right. They are very automated.

To mega-ELI5 it, the general process is that the pilots are in control until the plane is in the air after takeoff. Then they flip on autopilot, and from here until landing, it's just moving a series of knobs to tell the autopilot how high you want to fly, what direction you want to go or what navigational marker you want to fly toward, and a few more granular things to keep the ride smooth. Mind you, they usually get instructions about these from controllers on the ground if they weren't predetermined.

Once landing starts, the pilots dial in whatever pre-designed flightpath the controllers ask for (or a spot to circle as part of a queue if necessary), and the autopilot flies it. Once the plane is lined up with the runway and on its way back to the ground, then the pilots take control again and stick the landing.

If this makes you anxious about how little humanity is in the process, don't be! The whole reason planes basically feel like unmoving rocks while cruising is because the computer is that good at keeping control. There's also about a half-dozen duplicates of every little component, so even if several things beef it on a flight, there's still enough backups to avoid emergency.

As everybody else has said they are very automated. For questions about commercial flying there's a great youtube channel called Fly With Captain Joe. He answers all kinds of questions about flying. https://youtube.com/@flywithcaptainjoe

In the case of the airbus the computer is always flying. Moving the stick is just asking the computer how you want it to pitch. And it will follow within safety margins. Most of the flight will be auto pilot on pre programmed routes. I am not a pilot so I'm sure one can come in and explain it much better.

There are several video tutorials out there, a lot of them are aimed at simulator games but are accurate enough. To start with you do not have to use the automation at all. You can fly the airplane using the hand controls just like a hundred years ago. This is usually done at least twice during each flight but not for long. The basic autopilot are made of three different systems, one to keep the heading to a set heading, one to keep the altitude at a set altitude and one to keep the speed at a set speed. This is more like your cruise control and lane guide on a car. On modern airliners these controls are mounted on the glare shield above the dashboard right under the windshield. The heading autopilot is also able to take input from the radio which listens out for radio beacons or from the GPS. So the pilot can tell the autopilot to fly to a place on the map at a set altitude and speed and the autopilot will fly there directly. It can even make an approach on a runway using the instrument landing systems mounted on the runway. The most advanced piece fitted to these airliners is the flight management system. This is similar to a navigation unit on your car. You can program the FMS with multiple waypoints or it can calculate those itself. When you get close to one waypoint the FMS will reprogram the autopilot to fly to the next waypoint. So in theory with an FMS the airplane can fly the entire flight itself.

However there are still lots of things for pilots to do. Airliners are not fitted with systems to automatically taxi the airplane on the ground or take off. There are usually systems to automatically land but these are not as good as humans. In addition there are lots of things like lights, flaps, gears, etc. which is not controlled by the autopilot. So for each step of the flight you need to go through the checklist and set up the airplane manually. And there are also tons of systems to keep a track of and monitor in the air. There are a lot of alarms alerting the pilots when things are wrong but it does not catch all the various conditions and even when an alarm sounds the airplane will not be able to automatically find out why the sensors read what they do and what should be done about it. So you need to constantly monitor the airplane and make sure it is safe at all times, and be ready to handle any unexpected conditions.

Modern jetliners use what is called "fly-by-wire". There's no direct mechanical connection between the flight controls in the cockpit and the control surfaces on the wings and tail. When the pilot makes a control input, computers interpret that input according to the control law that is currently in effect and then move the control surfaces appropriately.

Please read this entire message

Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):

Whole topic overviews are not allowed on ELI5. This subreddit is meant for explanations of specific concepts, not general introductions to broad topics.

If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the detailed rules first. If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please use this form and we will review your submission.

So as I understand it, you want to know to control the aircraft while it's in the air. You are not interested, however, in learning on how to safely land the aircraft or take off?