Originally Posted by
ScepticalOptomist
I see no harm in doing the same thing each flight regardless of the visibility. If it works for a low vis takeoff, why not use the same technique all the time?
Because the view outside provides far more angular resolution in attitude changes, allowing you to recognize them and react against them much earlier and remain more stable.
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I've also seen these videos that the OP refers to (1 or 2 were posted in the thread about that Emirates 777 that took off with a captured altitude at ground height and followed the flight director into not taking off, and hit an obstacle off the far end of the runway). And, when the PF looked (not glanced, but transferred 100% of attention to) at the PFD... had it been immediately after lift off, I would have been disappointed and annoyed at the complete automation dependence endemic in airline flying, that has come up here often as a topic.
But it wasn't merely immediately after liftoff, it was *on the ground* at the V1 call, or thereabouts. And so beyond disappointed, I was positively mind-blown gobsmacked. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Who's steering the airplane on the runway in response to regular directional disturbances, crosswind gusts, etc? In response to an engine failure? There is just... nobody home.