Originally Posted by PJ2
Getting this off my chest...sorry for the thread drift.
Not a thread drift at all, but I am surprised you did not mention the FD at all ... !?
Manually flying the 330 with A/THR + FD has nothing to do with manually flying.
It's only when FD is missing on the PFD that one can realize how much mental work is needed to keep things straight.
You told us how little manual flying is done these days, how much of that little is done without FD guidance ...
For AF447, as FD were not selected OFF, they keep coming back, the PF did not doubt them and was probably too happy to put his faith in them.