I understand the sim exercises were looking at how the situation developed and not in the handling / performance of the aircraft.
Use of automation is all about using an appropriate level of automation to suit the situation. This can vary from full manual to Cat 3B autoland. Gone are the days when you heard "I've got a Base Check next week so I'm going to do a bit of manual flying". It had got to the stage where we were using the aircraft to practice for the sim, ie, often using an inappropriate level of automation. Has skill fade resulted? Among 200 pilots you will get 400 answers on that one!
Oh, and one of the guys is a mate so when we're all done we could wait for the report and probably even learn something. Well most of us, the experts out there have it all taped right?