Fear
Never made it to big stuff because I wasted my youth enjoying fast single seat aeroplanes. This is probably one of the most sensibly discussed threads I have come across on PPRUNE. Well done to you all!
Think on this. The ability to fly is not a natural human trait or state. To some extent, everybody has a perfectly natural "fear of flight" response deeply embedded within their psychy. In my hardly relevant experience flying really dynamic aeroplanes, I found managing a young pilot's fear factor to be a major issue. If you want someone to do something they are basically scared of doing, you need to expose them to the apparent threat in such a way as to overcome the inherent fear. To that end, pilots under training used to have to show steadily improving levels of confidence as manoeuvres and evolutions became more and more complex.
Over the last several decades the focus of training has shifted away from dynamic manoeuvring in real aircraft towards the very much cheaper use of simulators. In this transition, the use of simulation has removed an element of the confidence growth/fear management in the student because no mistake or action can be fatal.
Whilst our levels of safety awareness have increased dramatically since WW2, the present focus on saftey by regulation, rather than safety by exposure/experience, has lead to several generations of pilots who have become so safety focused they are probably now really quite scared or anxious of absolutely anything out of the ordinary.
IGh's input above describes the failure of highly trained pilots to recognise the fact that if an aeroplane is out of control you should unload. To some extent, we find ourselves back at the beginning of flight when nobody knew how to recover from a spin! Common sense told the pilot not to move the stick forward when descending out of control. It took training to overcome that particular problem, and we can train our way out of the current dilemma.
For safety reasons, pilots need to know how to fly in a full range of dynamic situations. Think about how many pilots you know who appear threatened by the thought of having to dis-engage the auto pilot. That particular trait does not indicate a safe level of confidence to me.
Even when people fly big, technologically advanced jets they need the self confidence to be able to identify unusual circumstances, take control themselves in some manner (even if the autopilot stays on) and keep the aeroplane airborne. If people are frightened, or simply loath to making decisions, then they need more training (or to get out and let someone else in.)
Similarly, if the excuse is that the control logic of the newer aeroplanes does not readily make reversion to hand flying an obvious choice in unusual situations, then we have the technology to change the control logic! Pilots who cannot fly for any reason should not be in the cockpit.
If hand flying big jets is innappropriate for any reason, be it strange control logic or commercial, then the pilots need to regularly get themselves airborne in something they can hand fly. In my view, any actual flying experience/recency is relevant when you find yourself in an emergency. For people wary of simply getting airborne in something they can actually hand fly, it may well be the perfectly natural "fear of flight" response in action. For them my question must be, "Are you in the right job?"