Tipsy...bravo! Finally we have an experienced oldie who lived the past, shine in the present and appreciate progress for the future. Much as we all love consummate hand flying skills, the future of aviation is going to be dictated by even more automatics.
Oldie skygods leading a boycott of automatics? Wow, without daily practice and yet fly like a bird whenever some auto glich appear due to management of automatics? Good story at the pub for sure but a tad unreal!
In another life, I flew like a bird too island hopping in my old 737 - 200s, 4 to 5 legs a day into places I knew like the back of my hand. I was pretty confident, cocksure at times as I handfly everyday with no company SOP restrictions. Traffic was easily manageable by ATC, we had all the time and space.
In my present life, I probably make a landing every 2 weeks. All PRNAV SIDs and STARS, a draconian FOQA/AIMS program and a multitudes of other SOPs requiring maximum use of automation for efficiency, economy and airspace constraints. Well, what a litany of excuses you may say...well these are facts of life in modern airline flying. I certainly enjoyed my past hand flying and certainly enjoy the handflying during my sim training and checks but I equally look forward to the challenges of flying the automatics and learning of all the traps!