A320 - landing with manual thrust?

[Uplinker]

The question for airlines, regulators and manufacturers should be; How did they create pilots who fly up when they should have flown down?

Very alarming stats, and a very good question. Especially considering that we all practise TCAS RAs every SIM time, so we all know exactly what to do and how to react, without question.

I wonder if it is the same thing that causes drivers to ignore their car SatNavs which are telling them to turn away from their usual route - but actually the SatNav 'knows' that there is a traffic jam ahead on the normal route and is trying to help the driver.
i.e. pilot knows best - but they are not 'seeing' and tracking up to 16 other nearby aircraft in the airspace around, above and below them, whereas the TCAS is and does.

By making them over-reliant on automation through SOPs like A/T on for approaches

No, not if they are ignoring the automation. It is probably that those pilots have the wrong mindset and the wrong approach - "I'm not going to let some computer tell me how to fly.....What's it talking about, I can't see any conflict aircraft......Crunch......oh bugger it was behind and underneath me, where I couldn't see it......" Or it was dark and bad vis, ditto.