Originally Posted by Oakape
Machines are not infallible. They sometimes behave in unexpected ways or fail, either partially or completely. Personally I keep my hand on the thrust levers until the flaps are up after take-off & on approach from the first flap selection, regardless of whether or not the autopilot and/or the autothrottle is engaged. I also have my hand on the thrust levers when I anticipate a major thrust change in flight e.g. enroute level change or top of descent. If the thrust levers don't move to where I expect them to be, I put them there. If the autothrottle fights me, I disengage it until I have time to sort the issue out.
This.
There are so many excuses being continually made around lack of G/S, automation traps, etc. as being "contributing" factors. As another poster mentioned some pages back - all they are are factors. At the end of the day, pilots should continuously be in a feedback loop of "trust but verify." This goes for both what the PF or PNF are doing *and* what the automation is doing.
Cultural issues combined with a new generation of magenta pilots completely dependent on automation is what some of the more experienced people have been hammering on as basic points contributing to a decline in aviation safety *when things aren't perfect*. Even when they are perfect, "the auto-pilot/auto-throttle did it!" are never valid excuses.
These points are not ignorable and neither is the lack of a go around much earlier.
Originally Posted by fsfaludi
I find it weird how the "new(er) generation" flight crews have got the basic flying skills so poorly learned and/or miserably handled at times.
Nothing weird about it (although I know you already know this). Talk to the bean-counters/corporate overlords who are hell-bent on turning pilots into human robots. The worst part is the punitive attitude taken towards pilots who *do* think outside the box combined with the policy-based reduction in hand-flying which could save people's lives someday. I doubt we'll be seeing many more Dennis Fitch types if things continue down the road they're on.