Originally Posted by tom
: specifically whether line flights morally should be used to practice manual flying skills that in doing so can reduce the levels of safety protection for the passengers
Morally? I have met some excellent airline pilots, but not all of them would measure up to community standards of morality, especially after some of the layovers I witnessed!
Are you perhaps referring to a different standard that might be labelled: "Duty of Care"?
Originally Posted by calypso
since neither the autopilot nor the autothrust is a MEL no-go item I must be proficient in flying the AC without them.
I think Calypso hit the nail on the head.
There is a difference between recreational and professional aviation. If the conditions are less than perfect, a recreational pilot should question whether they should dispatch.
A professional pilot however, when conditions are less than ideal, but within operational limits, should be able to "go". If it is safe and do-able using established techniques, the pro pilot should go. If the pro pilot does not possess, or has let lapse, the essential skills of his/her profession, then that pilot should either get practising or perhaps consider the
morality of taking his/her employer's good money.
The fact that your aircraft has MEL that allow your aircraft to dispatch with all or part of the automation u/s, is one very good indication of which skills you should possess and keep sharp.
Use of automation, or a particular combination of automation and other flying skills, should remain a tactical and strategic decision by the pilot.
The decision to use automation should be not be based on a lack of basic professional skills. Likewise, a decision to hand fly a departure or approach should be based on personal proficiency needs and the requirements of the situation, not as an egotistical desire to impress.
Manouevres such as hand flying normal departures and arrivals, visual and instrument approaches, can and should be practiced on the line. The potential for error or oversight by the pilot flying can be mitigated by appropriately briefing your support pilot, who then monitors FD and mode changes on his/her side. Modern simulators are good, but still have limitations. It is good to remind oneself every so often that one can still fly an aeroplane.
However, manouevres involving non-normal configurations, failures, control system abnormalities, etc, where the consequences of some errors are possibly unrecoverable, are best practised in the simulator.