Automation is fine and dandy indeed. Get paid for doing virtually nothing but computer programming
. Seriously though, what was considered to be the weakest link on the flight deck say 20 years ago was CRM, or lack thereof. Now the weakest link is becoming lack of stick and rudder skills. Before I get my head torn off here I`d like to say that I`m not saying that anybody who flies fully automated aircraft are bad pilots. Maybe a bit rusty in the seat-of-your-pants department
, but not bad pilots.
But one thing I`m curious about, and I`m asking because I don`t know
; does Airbus provide force feedback in the sidestick, or is it more like the old Atari joysticks? What I`m getting at is - can you still feel the aircraft, or do you just command a pitch/bank attitude?