bubbers44
Good pilots will be able to hand fly and stay at altitude just fine. Computer operator pilots won't. Unfortunately the latter are taking over right now. It is the future in aviation unfortunately. The Bob Hoover types who really know how to fly are scarce. It didn't use to be this way but it is now.
you are right, straight and level flying and maintaining a specified flight level is not rocket science. It has been done before.
Our ferry flights to goose bay / Labrador and back lasted around 8 hours each. The KC135 or KC10 tanker aircraft did the navigation part, and 5 phantoms flew in formation along, when weather closed in even in close fingertip formation. Our autopilot was not useable that close to other aircraft, everything was manual flying including the 8 air-refueling phases. With Oē masks on and orange juice self served with a straw. After a 7 hour flight i had to lead my wing man down to landing (he had complete com failure) in marginal weather conditions (rvr 1000 meters, ceiling at 200 feet, no ILS only PAR talkdown). No modern gadgets where available, no FDR and no copilot, just a weapon system operator in the backseat. All pilots of the wing could do that, thanks to lots of training we didnīt need to be skygod.
As often mentioned, it comes down to the will of the management to have trained pilots and not system monitors.
@Machinbird
I like your thinking out of the box, but doubt that the industry can look that far.