A/P on at 1144'. Daytime departure.
Ha
Yeah. I noticed that. Perhaps the FO had been hand flying the aircraft so much he decided that some automation familiarization was in order ....
The point of the Magenta Line syndrome isn't the fact that familiarity with automation is inherently dangerous. It's the danger of a degradation of other abilities as a result of it. In this case, I think the Commander showed that there was no degradation of his ability to aviate. When 'push came to shove', he still knew what he was doing.