Originally Posted by
FlightDetent
Is hand-flying being discouraged these days? Absolutly sadly yes. And it seems to bring benefits previously unattainable, but not for the pilot (ego) indeed. Still saddens me.
IMHO the pilot ego still can (and should) be satisfied by hand-flying
under the right conditions. There is no need to prove it during minimal weather (although many airlines still allow hand-flown circling approaches at published weather minima while hand-flying is considered much too dangerous for Cat 2 approaches...), with malfunctions, or with cumulus granitus around. If done under the right conditions it will both satisfy the ego and keep you sharp for the (statistically improbable) moment something fails that takes the autopilot and maybe even FD with it (which
AFAIK can happen in all but the very newest flying toys). Restricting raw data flying to the sim won't do as there's simply not enough time given all the other stuff that has been added over the years to be ticked off.
The operating manual of my current (Brazilian) airplane recommends all-time use of FD and use of AP from after TO to DH. There's an added caution that a high level of automation induces the crew to drop out of the loop and develop excessive confidence in automatic systems and a recommendation to occasionally fly manual approaches to keep proficiency. Interestingly we have to fly Cat IIIa by hand using the HGS (which is a bit more of an exercise than watching an autoland but somehow more satisfying, but I'd never dare to do it would I let the AP fly every other ILS down to minimums).