Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
WordNet
n. a cognitive state in which you act without self-awareness; "she went about her chores on automatic pilot"; "too much of the writing seems to have been done on automatic pilot"; "she talked and he dozed and my mind went on autopilot" [syn: autopilot]
a navigational device that automatically keeps ships or planes or spacecraft on a steady course [syn: autopilot, robot pilot]
Wikipedia
Automatic Pilot was a San Francisco, California band. Created in 1980 by members of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, they were described by The Advocate as "a non-official offshoot" of SFGMC along with three official subgroups. Automatic Pilot soon came into their own as an independent force, creating a niche at the fringe of the nascent gay musical movement and a new musical style.
They achieved notoriety early on with songs such as "Sit On My Face" and "Killer Purses" performed at benefits for the SFGMC, Theatre Rhinoceros, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They derived their name from psychiatric testimony at Dan White's trial for killing Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Usage examples of "automatic pilot".
I wondered dimly what in the name of God had kept him until now, it shouldn't have taken more than ten seconds to set the helicopter on automatic pilot and scrabble around for a gun after he'd straightened out, and then I realised that no more time than that had passed since he had straightened out the helicopter.
The data from satellite positioning systems was downlinked to the navigational computer which fed the course into the automatic pilot and put the UN airbus precisely over the plateau of Tebezza.
Jake hurried through breakfast to escape him, then picked up the tape from his automatic pilot, and went aboard the Flying Dutchman.
He disengaged the automatic pilot and turned the controls over to Brannon so his perspective and timing would not be diverted.
He was too inexperienced to realize he was trying to override the automatic pilot with brute strength when only twenty-five pounds of pressure was required to overpower it.
A device that functioned as an automatic pilot to hold an airplane on the proper heading, course, and altitude, and could be slaved to a radar or radio-homing system, to follow that system through turns at a certain time and space, and would even initiate a descent and carry it through to a landing, utilizing pressure altimeters and radar altimeters, and compensate for temperature and humidity and the effects of crosswind—.
Marshall sat motionless at the controls, flying upon the automatic pilot, but ready to take over at the instant in emergency.
The ship, still on automatic pilot, was slowly turning toward her, firing on all the steering thrusters down one side, so the jagged rock would take it broadside instead of a direct strike.
And there's the automatic pilot, and radio beams and - and radio base checks every half-hour.
The Ibis could not afford the extra weight of an on-board computer and an automatic pilot.