First of all, while a good post with good points,
Thanks 'Crunch Guy'
the heading "Pope" guy is wrong afaik. 737, 747, 727, BAe146, Bizjets, (Collins, Sperry, King etc) and dozens of GA aircraft with HSI's, took the shortest distance to the preset heading bug and turned towards it when heading select was engaged. Airbus is the only one I ever flew that would do a 270 degree turn the wrong direction since it remembered which way you initially turned the knob on the last approach. Crazy
.
I guess we could play what a/c have
you flown back and forth, as I flown some of the same ones you've mentioned, but I think my overall point remains the same-you have to understand what your current plane will do in a given situation whether or not it's what you're used to or whether you agree with the philosophy or not. I've flown some airplanes that will do what the 727 does, but I've flown more that will do what the Bus does and not all were Airbus. Both setups have presented me with 'gotchas' from time to time in a certain situations, which is why I feel you just have to know what your plane's gonna do, think ahead and deal with it. There are no standards for such things, and likely never will be so it is what it is.
The only way not to get killed was to hand fly it all the time. But then the Glass-Generation F/O's would cry: that damn "hand job" Capt is overloading me!!!!!!! I can't talk on the mike and turn the heading knob at the same time!!!!
Quite accurate as I've been there as well, but I've also seen quite a few older gen Capt's who act the same way when you hand fly glass airplanes. Also it's not just glass airplanes. You could make the same type of comments about some older planes like the 727's with the old SP-50 autopilots. There are a lot of situations where using them is far more work than just flying the airplane yourself, but most airlines training programs encourage using the 'automation' anyway and you'll find guys who'll freak out when you don't. It's more than just the glass generation F/O's, it's the training styles that have affected all in one way or another over the last 20+ years or so.