'bird's last comment is also what scares me.
Any airline pilot should be able to fly cruise by hand, cold without a warmup. If he cannot do that simple task, then he really doesn't belong in the cockpit.
I fully realize that many of the heavy pilots here have not flown to the edge of the "envelope", or exceeded it. I have no problem with that.
What scares me is a basic lack of airmanship I would expect of a teenager that I was helping learn to fly in a Cessna.
Lost a friend at Cali back in 95 or 96 or...... Stoopid flight management system turned the jet the wrong way and they noticed the error but kept descending whle turing back to the approach fix. Not good.
The increased use of automation seems to be a significant factor in recent incidents.
I would prefer a crew that flies the plane using a combination of "auto" aids and manual kills. IMHO, not enough manual flying these days. I am not a dinosaur. Flew with the latest and greatest avionics and FBW and such since the 70's. I would simply hope that the folks up front in the cockpit can actually fly the plane when all the automation and computer stuff goes away. In short, I want a "pilot" up front.