Okay, you don't need a pilot for the plane to take off. However, you might want one if you want to use the plane and the passengers again. :-) I remember flying from Dulles to LAX on a United DC 10 in the 70's, a pilot describing the autopilot (wrong word?) they had -- he said it takes the plane right to the runway at which point he landed the plane. The pilot said he felt a bit funny about that. john -- John F. Kurtzke, C.S.C. Department of Mathematics 278 Buckley Center University of Portland Portland, OR 97203 503-943-7377 kurtzke@up.edu