Autopilot

The breaking news:

The plane that crashed into a house near Buffalo, killing 50 people, was on autopilot when it went down, a violation of airline policy, a federal aviation official said Sunday.

There's a bit of semantics involved in this, strangely enough:

Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board said Colgan Air recommends pilots fly manually in icy conditions. Pilots are required to do so in severe ice.

The pilot of the doomed plane reported "significant" ice on his wings and windshield just before crashing Thursday night.

So was he merely going counter to a "recommendation"? Or was he actually violating a "requirement"? 

He described "significant" ice, which doesn't quite sound as bad as "severe" ice.

But I guess, in fact, it was severe,
which is why all those people are no longer here.