I believe that any pilot incapable of safely and confidently handflying a commercial jet under extreme and challenging circumstances (USAIR 1549) should not be in command of said aircraft. The swampland has already been purchased by all of those who mistakenly believe a complex and unforgiving system can be engineered to the lowest common denominator.
Sadly the bill is going to continue to be paid by those unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for a decade or more to come. The 1st time this argument ever occurred was in 1959 at the beginning of project Mercury. I've got no issues with automation but I have a question for all of you advocates...
How many of you would sit in the right seat with the lowest time Captain (A320 Qualified) from any random airline and put your fate in his hands under those exact circumstances. We are repeatedly seeing pilots apparently incapable of basic unusual attitude recovery or basic proficiency in cockpit scan and basic IFR procedures...just looking here at this board right now not one of the three current tragedies can have happened (based on what we currently know) with the combination of proper scan and procedures...yet all of you are ignoring the basic fact that all to often the PF isn't even the PM and the other guy in the pointy end might as well be in the back with me...