Originally Posted by
LeadSled
AercatS2A,
If there is one thing I have learned over many years, it is that the basis of good instrument flight is a good scan, and changes in instrument presentation from WWII to the present day have not altered that fact.
And sitting there watching doesn't cut it, you have to be hands on ---- and something that has always been very obvious to those of us who take notice --- a good instrument scan makes for efficient and confident use of the "automatics" that much better, because you are taking in ("seeing") more of what is actually happening than would otherwise be the case.
This is all true, but it is not fixed by manual flying in the cruise. It is tedious and trivial to fly straight and level. To keep your scan sharpish you need to fly manually in a dynamic situation, take-off and approach for example, even that is not particularly taxing.
When I did my 146 upgrade line training, I had something like six sectors that had to be flown manually due to various autopilot failures. It was not in anyway difficult and I am not one who “practices” manual flight as I think it is a waste of time, you can either do it or you can’t. The problem is that a number of pilots could never do it and increased automation means their lack of basic skills remain unexposed for years. All that manual practice does it’s lets you know which of your colleagues can’t fly, it doesn’t do anything to improve their flying.