QUOTE] have no real desire to be down the back in an aircraft where the Captain decides to turn it all off and show his ability on a dark and stormy night - airline aviation (and the individuals involved) should have grown out of that decades ago.
[/QUOTE]
You have hit the nail on the head albeit without realising it. The dark and stormy night circling approach took real piloting skills and fine airmanship. It proved inevitable that this type of craftmanship would fade into history as the magic and superb reliability of automation took over the pilot's job and he was reduced to a button presser. Some cynic once said "I can't fly for nuts but I can type at 80 words a minute". It is practically a MayDay situation with some captains who are so afraid of switching of the flight director until parked safely at the aero-bridge.