Originally Posted by
Tomaski
Sounds good on paper but implementation is key. If "training" is a five minute heavily briefed drill in box as opposed to actually encouraging pilots to hand fly more in the real world then nothing much will change.
Tomaski,
Right on point ! However, I suspect some of the skills deterioration might be due to airline management not adhering to this philosophy from the SAFO:
"An air carrier’s line operations policy should permit and encourage manual flight operations..."
I never understood pilots who didn't want to "fly" the airplane as often as possible. And a few minutes of manual flight a couple of times a year in the sim really won't fix the problem at all.
Airline managements need to step up and see what's happening...then do something about it. Same for the line captains. Even low time pilots will develope the skills if only they are encouraged to hand fly and given the opportunity. Nobody is born with these skills.