chrisN
I am a general aviation pilot (biplanes, biplanes, biplanes) so I hope you will forgive me if my suppositions are wrong. I always understood it that modern civil airliners flew with a set of SOPs on board in the cockpit, immediately available for the crew to use. I also understood that airline training involved the use of SOPs and CRM to identify and troubleshoot issues that might come up. As for manual flying skills I agree with your last paragraph and I wasn't referencing these. I would suggest though that some form of manual flying skill is essential and to be expected - for any pilot.