Originally Posted by
vilas
But no point quoting accidents that have nothing to do with the subject.
I'd say AF 447 has EVERYTHING to do with the subject. A pilot who never does any raw data flying is a slave to the FD/FMA. The instrument scan becomes a stare. On AF447, the FD commanded a nose up input, and the PF said something like "I've been pulling the whole time".
We'll never know for sure if he was trying to follow the FD, but regular raw data flying allows you to more easily look behind the FD, and also allows you to more readily realise when it's time to turn it off.
Over the ocean in essentially night IMC is when some people would probably say is not ideal to practice raw data flying. However it's exactly the situation encountered by AF447.
If you don't feel comfortable hand flying an approach in IMC, you should let your regulator know there needs to be a DAY VMC ONLY limitation on your ATPL.