Re; Zippy
This kind of thing annoys me. Define 'real flying'. I'd love to compare it to what exactly it is that I do when I go to work every day.
Maybe when you get into the airlines and start to fly big jets, you'll see that the Chuck Yeager 'real pilot' brigade are the ones who have the most problems because they can't get out of their 'real pilot' habits and try to fly in a way a big jet isn't designed to be flown. For example, if Airbus and my company tell me explicitly that the FDs, AP and A/THR should be on all the time, then that's what I'll do - I'll save the manual raw data heroism for the sim. I won't be switching it all off and having a 'play' because, by some twisted logic, it makes me more of a pilot.
Sorry......your inexperience kicks in again....you assume that myself or others don't "fly jets" and that for some reason our experience means we can't fly a plane the way it says it must be flown in the SOP's.
Don't forget that the Pilots that you sit next to probably wrote those SOP's I'm not trying to have a go here but you should understand that with the greatest respect you know very little about flying in your early years. I include myself in that statement.
Flying is not rocket science and most people with half a brain can do it well, but experience does and always will count. How did you learn which cells to avoid and when to avoid them. Its not by reading the book, it's sitting next to a guy that has been in one and thought he wouldn't do that again in a rush. He then shows you what the CB looks like with some story. " I once went through a cell like that and etc etc etc. So then you now know if it looks like that I'll avoid it. These experiences are gained through all types of flying but are learnt harder and faster working your way up the ladder. When you get to the point that your command is coming up it will be because you have experienced most if not all the things involved with your type of flying.....but do you really think you'll get in that left seat and not screw up ...even once. Because you will and that's what we are all on about. We have had the chance of screwing up in our flying before we got in the big shinny jets, that stops us making those mistakes (maybe) in those expensive buses. Where you guys may have to make your mistakes in them.