I haven't flown for many years but was astonished with a story I heard last year when talking to a domestic 737-800 captain. From what I recall the approach was visual from the north into Sydney 16 and 17 miles out in CAVOK. His female F/O was PF and she asked him if he minded if she disconnected the autopilot to practice a hand flown ILS ready for her up-coming sim check. He said no problems whereupon she thanked him warmly adding that very few captains she flew with would let her hand fly on request. He raised his eyebrows on that remark but thought nothing more.
As the aircraft closed on the localiser and now around 12 miles the captain noticed the PF was still on full automatics and had not yet gone "click-click"
He suggested she disconnect but she said "Not yet, captain - I don't want to overshoot the centre-line so I will leave the AP in" Soon after the AP captured and again the captain hinted that if she was serious about wanting to hand fly she had better do it now rather than leaving it to the flare before going "click-click".
It gets better. With a deep breath she announced she was going to disconnect the AP which she did. A few seconds later the captain suggested she should also disconnect the AT as per Boeing SOP. She said she would leave that until later as it gave better speed control. By now she was flying with both hands on the control column with AT and FD engaged.
The captain then suggested she should turn off the FD if she was serious about hand flying the ILS in CAVOK. She said she would rather leave the FD on in case it was needed for a GA.
Later with all this drama over a straight forward visual approach down the ILS, the captain asked the first officer where she had done her Boeing 737-800 type rating. She replied she had bought it in Australia where the provider insisted that full use of all automatics must be used from the very first simulator session. She had rarely flown without a flight director.
Here then was another classic case of a first officer brought up to only hand fly when all other avenues of automation are exhausted. The company captains were the crux of the problem - not her ability as first officer.
With a typically disinterested captain his attitude would have a marked bearing on her enthusiasm to keep her hand in and in the end it meant she lost the confidence needed to be able to fly the aeroplane by hand. The problem described is much wider than people may think.
Last edited by Tee Emm; 8th Aug 2012 at 13:04.