I think a problem is that not enough time is given in the SIM to mastering the hand flying first.
In my A320 initial type rating SIM program, the TRE said “it’s a good idea to get a day ahead in the SIM”, so we rushed through everything: All the basic preliminaries such as seat position, eye position, arm rest and even the most fundamental ‘how to fly using a side stick coupled to FBW instead of a yoke’, were not covered. I just had to muddle through, but at least I had previous airline experience of three non FBW aircraft types, both turbo-prop and jets, so I was able to do that.
Where problems might arise is that todays’ cadet goes from a PA28/PA34 equivalent straight onto an Airbus and they have the sort of bad “trainer” I had for my initial training.
I understand that some airlines now teach manual hand-flying first, with no FD’s or AP’s at all until the basics are mastered?
If the CAA mandated us recording manually flown, non FD approaches, say a minimum of three every six months, then it would send a message to the industry, and airlines would have to start looking at manual non FD flying in the SIM and actually training it to get everyone up to speed.