Crossword Genius

George in seventh heaven almost opening a packet (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

autopilot

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'george in seventh' is the definition.
'autopilot' can be an answer for 'george' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'in seventh' bit.

'heaven almost opening a packet' is the wordplay.
'heaven' becomes 'utopia' (a utopia is a perfect place).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'opening' is an insertion indicator (some letters open a gap in others).
'a packet' becomes 'alot' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'utopia' with its final letter taken off is 'utopi'.
'utopi' put into 'alot' is 'AUTOPILOT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for autopilot that I've seen before include "Aircraft system allowing crew to rest" , "Airman's 'George'" , "George (sl.)" , "not concentrating on it" , "course controller" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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