Frankly, I think the Airbus is the aircraft the erodes piloting skills more than any other. Anyone care to disagree?
Please....can we just keep to the topic at hand and not launch yet one more 'eroding skills' discussion...it's been done to death and never resolves a thing.
Sorry, BBB, but dang, it gets a tad tiresome and will only produce another round of A vs B, Colgan vs the FAA and whatnot.
I flew (almost always manually to cruise, the descent, approach and landing) the A320, then A330/A340 for fifteen years. One doesn't
lose one's skills, one
permits flying skills to be lost, and THAT is a professional standards matter, not an airplane, airline, regulator or other matter. Disconnect the damn airplane and the autothrust and stay familiar with the airplane.
There's far too much blame about "loss of skill" directed elsewhere when the real one responsible for any loss of one's skills and professionalism is in the mirror. If your airline wont' let you hand-fly because they like automation, to hell with them and their MBAs, fight them on it!
Take a look at the stats: we've had far too many fatal accidents resulting from the most basic failure of all and which we're trained to avoid and prevent from Hour One in our first flight...stalling the airplane. If the training isn't there in the syllabus, demand it.
Sorry, but enough is enough.