Folks, first of all I was not talking at all about flying RNAV approaches or CAT IIIb approaches by hand - I am talking about getting an airplane on the ground in adverse circumstances such as a single engine diversion to a less than desirable alternate or landing in gusty crosswinds without resorting to the Autoland feature.
I am also not talking about rehabilitating someone who has lost his skills due to laziness or lack of opportunity. I am talking about "pilots" who never did learn, have no intention of doing so, cannot land in crosswinds, legally or otherwise, or competently shoot a visual approach. These are basic skills that should be mastered by anyone in any cockpit. Sadly, the worse the pilot is in the airplane, the more the strut and arrogance on the ground.
Grizzled veterans of the right seat of the longhaul B777 who object to talking about manual flying skills, you will probably get away with it for the most part. Jets are pretty forgiving and reliable. I just wonder how you sleep at night.