Originally Posted by SLFinAZ
Personally I think this incident highlights how important actual hand-flying is toward maintaining situational awareness. My thought is that the over reliance on automation decreases the ability of the "PF" to actually be mentally "flying" the airplane which can lead to a mental "brain lock" when suddenly forced to assume flying responsibility. From all I've seen the AP disconnect left the plane relatively trimmed and stable with a slightly banked and nose down attitude at (or immediately after) disconnect. The flight control inputs required should have been very minimal and consistent with normal inputs in mild turbulence.
If only the Airbus could be flown by hand.
The only time we get to fly by hand is the first and last 50 feet, or if something goes terribly wrong and we find ourself in direct law. As long as the FBW is in normal law, the SS is nothing more than a autopilot input device. Adding a bank request through the SS is the same as turning the heading select knob on the flight control panel. Both actions result in the autopilot turning the aircraft.
Hand flying an Airbus in normal law does not prepare one for hand flying an Airbus in degraded law. And we haven't even discussed hand trimming. It is virtually impossible to practice hand trimming. Yes, I have tried.
I routinely turn off AutoThrust, Autopilot, and Flight Director when flying visual approaches. All I'm accomplishing is to maintain my instrument scan. I have no confidence that my hand "flying" practice will translate to proficiency in degrade law ops.