Originally Posted by
Lund student SDW
Right. Unfortunately, it's only when you set the parking brake that you know for sure that what you did was a reasonably correct thing to do. And when hindsight bias kicks in.
To your point, I'm concerned about professionals not being exposed to enough risky situations, and even freaking out at the mere thought of manually flying all the way to TOC or from TOD (...when the conditions are right of course). Ultra-safe may become "too safe" (can't believe I'm saying this!), and this is one of the ironies when the average skills erode by a lack of exposure to crappy situations and bad decisions (that hopefully are both recoverable).
There is no benefit whatsoever in flying manually to TOC or from TOD.
Learning to fly means first of all being selected at a very early stage by a reputable organization (usually military, but also a big airline). And also being exposed to many different ways of flying, ideally military, and also gliders, single, multi engines. In different parts of the world possibly, in different weather conditions. Once you’re at an airline it’s too late, and most likely you’ll have to listen to young instructors who have less experience than the average first officer a couple of decades ago.
It is what it is.