Where have all the pilots gone? A sad lament indeed. They have been automated out of existence. I'm afraid there are not many Sullys left in our industry. A man who took an automatic A/C and flew it. There still are a few out there who would have produced the same result given the same circumstances; but not many.
Most of the discussion on this tread has been on how to turn a fool proof A/C into an idiot proof one. Good luck with that.
Airlines love these A/C because they no longer need skilled pilots to fly them. They need operators who can program and monitor the systems that actually fly the A/C. Of course they have to be able to taxi, take-off and sometimes land. The latter skill often botched. Hopefully they will also be able to keep the blue side up when the gremlins show up.
There has been a lot of discussion about how hand flying is difficult, less safe and increases cockpit work load. Well I quess if you don't feel comfortable with it, these things would be true. It takes a lot of practise to aquire and maintain these skills. Someone suggested here that four sim sessions per year would be adequate!! Can you believe that! Sixty years ago (60) pilots were hand flying their A/C into Tempelhof in all kinds of WX using GCA. I have hand flown into most major US airports and a good number in the rest of the world inluding ORD, LGA, LAX, DFW, MIA, JFK, SFO, well you get the picture. Perfectly normal in my day. You were 100% in the loop and connected to your A/C.
Automation is here to stay. It will increase. The trick will be to involve the operator in a more active role than simply as a monitor. IMO the most simple and effective way to do this would be to limit the use of A/T. If the pilot is in charge of thrust he is forced into the loop. There have been suggestions here that all A/P's should use A/T all the time. Nonsense! Just as an aside, when flying in a mountain wave, I used A/B to control A/S rather than thrust. I found this produced a smoother, quieter flight.
Ralph