Anthony Carn said it better than I had hoped to.
Pilots in the (especially) later Airbus and Boeing types are said to lose their piloting skills, especially when only flying ILS approaches.
I'm certainly not the best pilot, but if I flew for years in a later-generation glass cockpit, it could be a very risky proposition to divert to an alternate and have serious problems with any of the autopilots or autothrottles, as the fuel burns down to reserve with some contingency left over, while vectored into an uncontrolled airport. How about for a procedure turn in the mountains of western Montana on a winter night ?
But I suppose that a brand-new airplane with the latest in automation is the solution for this situation, jet engines or not.........
