Pilot handling skills under threat, says Airbus

[JW411]

I have so far resisted responding to this thread but I am now goaded into commenting. Those of you who have been on pprune for some years will know that I have always been in favour of all pilots keeping up their hand flying skills. I always managed to do so for 46 years of professional flying (RAF & Commercial) despite the "naysayers" who would have you believe that the poor old PNF will become overloaded in an a busy ATC environment (whatever are they going to do in a real emergency)?

I have only one question to ask all of you out there.

What exactly does your MEL say about you despatching with all of your nice comfort zone automatics deferred?

Go on, really look at your MEL.

If it says, for example, that you may despatch with no auto pilot and no flight directors, would you be able and comfortable to continue with this situation? If not, then why not? If you feel that you cannot operate to this level of redundancy then you are clearly out of proper flying practice. If the reason that you are out of practice is because the management insists on auto flight at all times then refuse to accept the constrictions of the MEL.

I was once invited to fly a DC-10 from LGW to LAX with no autopilots. We, the crew, looked in the MEL, had a conference, and got on with it. It was not difficult (nowadays it would not be a realistic possibility because of RVSM restrictions).

Not long before I retired, I was confronted with a 5-sector adventure sans autopilot and flight directors etc (which the MEL said was acceptable). I was supposed to be training a brand new F/O and the weather was less than wonderful. I told the despatchers that we could either change the F/O (it would not have done him any good) or else we changed the aeroplane.

An experienced F/O was called out and we got the job done.

LOOK AT YOUR MEL MOST CAREFULLY AND THEN FIGURE OUT IF YOU REALLY WOULD BE HAPPY TO FLY IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, IF NOT, THEN ASK THE MANAGEMENT FOR FURTHER TRAINING OR ELSE CHANGE THE MEL.

P.S. Believe me, at no time in my career would any of the SLF even have have suspected that I was hand flying. I was always taught to imagine that if I got the slightest bit rough then 350 gin and tonics would end up in the roof and that the girls would never speak to me again. No gin and tonics ever hit the roof and I married one of the girls!