Originally Posted by
helimutt
Im fairly certain that anyone who flies an S76 will tell you, flying with the AFCS disengaged is most definitely noticeable. You'd have to be unconscious to not notice a disengaged AFCS.
I think I said that immediately after the post in question.
Frankly, when we are having a conversation about the FTR being called the "button of death" we are exhibiting how amateurish an industry we seem to have evolved into. I think one of the reasons we have so many automation issues is because many pilots don't even understand the basics about AFCS and SAS, let alone upper modes. I wonder if some of the attitudes (no pun intended) are based on having zero fixed wing time? I'm sure that any pilot that has initially learned to fly on FW (especially with a gnarly old QFI smacking him around the helmet when out of trim!) first will have a different view and approach to the use of the trim function.