From one who has many 1000s of hours flying, training, and testing modern jets, ranging from the 707 and DC9 era, through the very latest Seattle products, and also some of Toulouse's finest products, I can say with confidence that ...Prof. John (at MIT) is most well informed on these kinds of issues. He is correct in that virtually any of the modern jet transports are considerably easier to fly than say a DC3 or even a DC9, without failures, or with failures. For example, I'd rather take a 777 with an engine shut down, and a hydraulic system inop, all by myself, ...into any unfamiliar airport in Europe, Asia, or Africa, of your choice,... than to go back to flying a tiny Twin Beech into KORD, at night, in icing, or thunderstorms, on cargo runs, as I once did, for what seems like a 1000 years ago. So does flying now still require training and common sense? Of course. Does it depend on having the right skill set for the aircraft and mission? Of course. Do we need to do better in the airline industry for training and skill maintenance? Of Course. But do those observations necessarily make John's observations on modern flight deck design trends invalid? Of course NOT.