we generally won't get much (or in some cases any?) practice doing things without automation except once every few months in a hurried sim session. Yet we have always been expected by employer, regulator and the public, to miraculously maintain a highly proficient level of hand-flying ability.
Ain't that the truth. We seem to spend more and more time in the sim looking at and practicing the latest automated procedure and/or being checked on Team skills and less and less time actually "poling" the thing. Until/unless there's a complete change in emphasis I think that will only get worse.
The absence of a basic thing like a PAPI when a visual approach is required is a big miss
Agreed, it's putting another hole in the cheese, but no doubt the response from some will be "ya'll need to bring your A game to the States".