...If only the bean-counters would allocate a measly few quid to putting pilots into single-engined, basic machines or gliders once every few months.
Like many here (I presume), I used PPL instructing to supplement funds on the route to commercial. Unlike many (I suspect), I started to do it again a few years back and still do it now. There is nothing like teaching someone with ten hours to recover from a spin or stall to refresh some basic skills
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It's not, of course, all transferable but much is.
Like it or not, our basic skills do deteriorate if they aren't used. I didn't do any glider or single-engine stuff for a good few years and the first day I took one up again was a real shock in terms of how much my fundamental 'feel' for things had diminished. I thoroughly recommend it to all here. As much as anything, it's FUN. Remember fun?
As for the basic premise, I thoroughly disagree. It is certainly true that we need to understand how the automation works (and I mean REALLY understand it) and work with it, but we are not a bolt-on accessory. Automation is not at the level where it can be in charge, and the other 'bus drivers out there know as well as I do that it has its limitations. It's good, damned good, but perfect? Oh no sir. Not by a very long way.