There are countless opportunities for pilots of current airline types to manually fly and land their aircraft. I am sure the majority of pilots who are in the job because of the sheer enjoyment of flying, would welcome the opportunity for hands-on practice to increase their competency. On the other hand one sees pilots who have been brought up on automatics from their first type rating and fear switching off a flight director. Despite lip service by some operators on the need to remain competent at non-automatics, the fact is most airlines insist on full use of automatics at all times. Basic flying skills then fly out of the window. It then becomes safer to stick to the automatics. Catch 22.