On the over-releliance on automation...
At the NTSB brief yesterday, one of the reporters asked if the auto-throttles had a back up system. I yelled at the screen: "YES, THE PILOTS!"
There needs to be a serious re-assessment of the attitude towards automation by the airline trainers on their students; with over-reliance on and even reluctance to turn it off shown by pilots involved in major incidents.
Some pilots being lulled into a flase sense of security, thinking the automation is a safety-net that will catch them if they make a mistake, or that they can trust it to handle things while they divert their attention elsewhere.
AUTOMATION IS A FALSE SAFETY-NET!
YOU, THE PILOT, IS THE SAFETY NET!
You are that last slice of the swiss cheese!
IMO, pilots should look at the automation on their plane with distrust.; as if it were HAL, the computer from the movie "2001". It is actively trying to kill you. And if you don't monitor it closely enough, it WILL kill you!