Originally Posted by
Uplinker
Pilots should always "fly through" the flight directors - by which I mean you should always be looking at the pitch and roll presentation of the PFD, and any adjustment to the aircraft path should be by reference to this. Pilots must always refer to the pitch and bank presentation, and only regard the FD as a suggestion for guidance. Unusual attitudes? look only at pitch, bank, and speed, ignore all else. This should be instinctive.
The FD is an advisory instrument, and it should never be blindly followed. Doing so has caused accidents, and one must always look through it to confirm the actual pitch and bank of the aircraft, and that the FD is offering sensible guidance.
Things must have changed, the wording in CAP24 “Guidance for Examiners” used to require the IRE/TRE to brief the candidates that “you may use the flight director, but if you do, you must ensure it is correctly programmed and you must follow its commands”