@LW_50 (and again, you make me break my personal limits on daily post count - curse you!
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I followed that thread closely at the time, and in essence I agree whole-heartedly with what NSF said, with the proviso that I would have included the A300, A310, MD-11, B747-400, B757 and B767 (and to some extent, the B737 Classic and NG) in that list. Something that has rarely been clearly delineated is the distinction between FBW technology (which applies to the aircraft he lists, along with Concorde, albeit using analogue technology in that case), and FMS technology (which applies to that list as well as any Western airliner that came off the drawing board post-1972). My contention is that the former does not necessarily impact negatively on currency in hand-flying expertise, while the argument that dependence on the latter makes it possible to do do definitely has merit.
If you look at how some people respond to my posts, as opposed to what I've actually been saying, you would think that I must be some kind of blinkered supporter of automation ueber alles, which I categorically am not - and have gone out of my way to make that clear several times. While I agree with some of what people like SC and JD-EE say in terms of the reality of the systems (and respect their expertise), I do not share their confidence in the ability of these systems to operate successfully and safely without the need for human intervention, particularly when the situation begins to degrade from normal to FUBAR.
So all I can do is reiterate the gist of some of my most recent posts - you have two clear cases of recent accidents where a lack of proper training and a lack of understanding as to just how important it is that pilots be fit for duty have clearly contributed significantly. You've got Airbus (of all manufacturers!) expressing concern that manual handling skills have been allowed to deteriorate and that action must be taken to resolve this. There will probably not be another opportunity to take the fight to airline management across the industry for a very long time, so please understand that I am four-square behind any effort on the part of pilot unions and associations to do so. I get weary of all the old Airbus canards being brought up over this accident because it is a distraction from the real problem - a new breed of airline management and executives that don't know anything about the sharp end of the industry that they are supposed to be managing, nor do they understand why the cost-cutting measures that they were taught and are routinely applied in other industries are simply inappropriate for airline operation.
@BOAC - I was referring to the misunderstanding on the part of the driver who expected ABS to save his bodywork and spare his blushes - clearly he believed that ABS was a "magic" braking system that would contravene the laws of physics and make everything alright. Right now, we don't know why the AF447 crew (and the PF in particular) did what they did, whether it was overconfidence in the system through lack of understanding and/or training, whether it was a sustained panic reaction which would have led to the same result in any other airliner, or whether it was a simple case of pulling back on the stick while attempting roll corrections without realising it - to name but three possibilities. It is likely that we will never be 100% sure, so we must work with the information that we do have.