Originally Posted by
speedrestriction
I respectfully disagree, safety is not necessarily degraded by flying an approach without flight directors; if it was unsafe it would be proscribed by the regulators. On occasion (eg circling approaches) continued use of automatics (including FDs can actually increase workload). It is important to maintain proficiency at all levels of automation from the minimal permitted all the way to Cat III.
I didn't say it was unsafe. I said it becomes less safe than another option. Being unsafe and less safe are totally different. That said there are of course exceptions to the rule and I completely agree that there are circumstances where trying to mess about programming a FD draws your attention away from the actual flying and that in itself isn't very clever either, especially close to the ground. Of course it goes back to the right time and right place conversation. Discussing and deciding on an appropriate level of automation for the approach being flown at the briefing stage helps. But my point remains that the company and our customers want us to fly whatever is the safest option possible.