A very nice post from
Al Murdoch, which, to me, summarises the essenence of this whole discussion. Al's attitude is exactly in line with my own. I too, enjoy and take every opportunity to practice hand flying
when appropriate, but in very busy airspace or marginal weather firmly believe that the aicraft must be operated by the safest and most accurate means possible, and that, on most (but not all) occasions implies the use of
MODERN automatics.
John_Tullamaine, in one of the posts here, has stated that attitude and capability is very much a 'pilot era' thing. (John's backround and mine are very similar). For those of us from the era where hand flying was the safest and most accurate means possible, we have no discomfort in a modern highly automated aircaft in operating either way, the old or the new. It is no fault of the younger pilot entering the industry on a highly automated type to place a heavier reliance on the automatics.
I have always believed that an aircraft should be flown as the manufacturer intended.
When I learned to fly on the Tiger Moth, I flew it 'by the seat of my pants', that's what De Havilland intended, and that's what I did.
When I flew the DC3, I flew it by hand with the rather rudimentry insrumentation available, using the very primitive Auto-Pilot (not much more than a wing leveller) for a bit of relief during cruise. That's what Douglas intended, and that's what I did.
When I flew the F27 and Viscount, with a much improved (Sperry) Auto-Pilot, automation had only increased to improved en-route capability (Airspeed and Altitude Hold.....wow!). Terminal area flying and approaches were very much a hand-flown thing. That's what Fokker and Vickers intended, so that's what I did.
Jump a generation to the DC9 and B727. Very much improved Auto-Pilot (singular) and Flight Directors enabled much more accurate Automatic and Manual flight, but with zero redundancy, one had to be
EQUALLY proficient with Automatic and hand flown flight. That's what Douglas (sniff!
) and Boeing intended, so that's what I did.
Jump over the A300 (my first Auto-land aircraft) to the current era where I fly the B777. Boeing incorporated very accurate and reliable automation with an incredible capacity for redundancy (7 sources of electrical power, 8 IRS units, 2 GPS units, 3 Flight Director backups, and a wide degree of PFD redundancy). How did Boeing intend that the aircraft be primarily flown? - By optimum use of automation, that's how, and that's what I do.
The degree of redundancy is the deciding factor. Doing a 1 engine, TAC off, Raw Data ILS is a lot of fun, and good for confidence, but is such training necessary? ..... Absolutely NOT! (Excluding the TAC off because it has no back-up).
So, apart from self satisfaction, why do I still take every chance to hand fly? It's NOT because of possible Automatics failure, considering the mind-boggling redundancy, the chances of being 'down' to raw data are trillions to one against such a possibility. It's because there are still several manoeuvres which still call for the pilot to fly - The Visual Approach, and the Non Precision Approach (NPA). From the Base turn onwards (for the Visual Approach) and from the MDA onwards (for the NPA) manual flight (ideally with the Flight Directors OFF) is still essential!
Add to this list (1) GPWS escape, (2) Wind Shear escape, (3) TCAS avoidance, and (4) Ground Equipment (such as ILS) malfunction, all SERIOUS situations, none can be handled by the Automatics in current generation aircraft, so Pilot Proficiency in hand flying remains essential, even if the Automatics remain fully functional.
So, the bottom line is, fly the aircraft as the manufacturer intended in normal operations, tempered with a good respect for the level of redundancy, and in the full realisation that there remains many areas (as described) which cannot be handled by a fully serviceable Automatic system.
The pilot's proficiency in manual flight is the LAST line of defense.
When I go to my paid work, I make full use of the B777 automatics, particularly in inclement weather and crowded skies, but avail myself of every chance to 'get in' some hand flying. When I still fly the Tiger Moth on my time off, I fly it by the seat of my pants. That's what Boeing and De Havilland intended!
Regards,
Old Smokey