Originally Posted by
Capn Bloggs
The problem Vessbot is that you haven't seen (do you fly?) all the saves that have been made by pilots but which don't get reported. AF 447 alone, I think I read that that event (or similar) had occurred 30 times previously, but with no dramas as the situation was recovered by the pilots. Bad design, pilot save. When finally pilots don't save it, much gnashing of teeth occurs blaming the drivers, who are themselves victims of Magenta Line policies of the regulators, operators and manufacturers.
This little tidbit is encouraging, but the attitude I see day in day out at the airline I fly for, is not: that handflying is an entertaining frivolity, only to be reserved for the clearest calmest of days (if even then). Competency in it is assumed, on no basis. Numerous times I've heard from check pilots and instructors "we know you know how to fly the airplane at this stage, so the focus is on [everything else]" when they actually don't know that at all. Seems like it comes out like a verbal tic. All the big talk about our substantial responsibilities is about managing the big picture and being an automation manager... as if that's something to do not in addition to knowing how how to fly, but instead of it. In all of newhire sim training, to my best memory, I did two handflown approaches. The rest was all profiles and procedures. I get thrown out onto the line since all the required boxes are checked, and then I could fly until upgrade, literally without intercepting a course or levelling off from a decent even once. And, if I followed the example from the left seat, this wouldn't be too far from the truth.
When we're getting vectored to expect a tight visual because of a storm on long final, and he's nervously fidgeting with the heading knob a few degrees back and forth while telling me not to call it in sight yet, instead of just flying it in, it's clearly revealed to me which way the automation/pilot/saving relationship is arranged.