[quote]The Kegworth environment was doubly pressurised because the Captain took control from the FO (changing crew roles at a critical time) and disconnected the autopilot - dramatically increasing his own workload. ]
Disagree. Any pilot worth his wings should easily be able to handle an engine failure and hand fly at the same time. Happens all the time in single pilot light twins and they are a damned sight harder to fly on one engine than a jet.
RAF pilots flying Canberra bombers single pilot with no autopilot and in IMC at 45,000 ft handled this sort of situation through normal training and without the benefit of simulators. We didn't see Canberras falling out the sky with engine failures at altitude. It is all about good training. And if todays simulator training places accent on full use of automation then no wonder the automation brigade are so tied up in knots pushing buttons that they forget how to fly an aeroplane - a situation only about to get worse with low hour cadets in the RH seat of jet transports and brought up on a diet of automatics.
By disconnecting the automatics if he chooses, at least the captain can get an immediate feel of the flyability of the aircraft. In the 737 Classic the use of automatics on single engine is quite awkward requiring partial manual flying anyway (manual rudder and trim, no auto-throttle) while carefully "monitoring" the control wheel position in case the rudder is not kept in trim.
Having said that, there is a case for retaining use of the autopilot in such circumstances if the captain feels he is not confident or competent enough to hand fly his aircraft - but what a sad reflection on so called "progressive thinking" on the subject of automation versus pure flying skills. The old story about the pilot who admits he can't fly for nuts but that he can type at 80 words a minute is never so true as an example of todays pilots.