Originally Posted by
Check Airman
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.
It's not that simple. UAS is one of the most challenging failured because it doesn't come in standard format like hydraulic or engine failures(Ask Uplinker. He will tell you)There is definite procedure for it and if you didn't know it then when it happens you are not likely to discover by accident(pun! May be). There were more than 22000 posts on 447 so I won't go over it. There's no evidence that 447 pilots didn't know how to fly raw data. OK! they followed the FD and stalled. Did they know stall recovery or they needed actual practice at 370? They had to know how to deal with UAS which they didn't. They didn't even know stall recovery procedure. They knew FDs don't recover you from stall or did they? So let's forget 447. Nobody is saying don't fly raw data approaches. But automation is there and installed for day to day use and not only as a standby to daily raw data practice flying. It's a commercial flight and not a training flight. Everything has to have a sense of proportion.