That is a good and valid piece of information regarding keeping a scan going even during automatic flight. Think about it. Say you are at the bottom of an approach to minimums, runway is in sight, and you are about to kick the autopilot off and finish the job yourself. You don't hit the big red button in the stick first, then start suddenly scanning your PFD and windshield. You have been doing that for a while now, haven't you? As you get closer and closer to pressing that button, there is a "quickening" in your scan (attitude, airspeed, attitude, vertical speed, attitude, director, airspeed, outside.... Etc) but it remains. Even in cruise, or descent (assuming you are actually engaged in flying the aircraft and not reading or playing Candy Crush) you do this, albeit at a vastly slowed rate.
So there is a "continuum" of scanning and engaging the aircraft that continues whether you have everything off and are hand flying a visual approach to a short runway, or you are at 20,000 feet in descent setting up for a CAT IIIb ILS to an autoland.
Well at least you should be doing that. And it would be a lie to tell you I sit in my seat and stare at the horizon and the instruments for 6 hours on a crossing. Though I am stuck at level 147 in Candy Crush, I can assure you that each move is simply one piece of my slow, relaxed, enroute "inverted V scan". Outside.... ADI.... Airspeed.... NAV display..... Move the purple candy on space up.... Airspeed.... ADI..... Space out for a while..... Orange candy to the right..... airspeed.... Like this, see?
When you hand fly remember.... Fly pitch and power. Your Flight Director should be though of as a "Flight Suggestor". It doesn't really direct a damn thing so you should fly the airplane, not the bars. RNP stuff, yeah let the plane fly itself. Your passengers will appreciate when you make your descent, approach, and configurations with as few uncomfortable pitch and power changes as possible. Stay engaged with the aircraft, keep your mental math going even on a managed descent, plan your deceleration, keep engaged and it can be done consistently. Using the full continuum from that broad, relaxed scan that was mentioned earlier down to the metronomic rhythm of a real hand-flown ILS scan all the way to the basic VFR division of attention you learned doing pylon-8's so many moons ago as you get the last part of the job done with finesse.
Asiana never has to happen again. It sounds like those boys (instructor captain included) were not encouraged to fly, to REALLY fly, and were actively discouraged from developing and cultivating the skills of a true AVIATOR by the culture of their training and their airline. Whether or not they previously had those skills (perhaps in the military or years ago flying short-haul) they were not only allowed to rust away, but actively discouraged. They didn't have a chance.
Last edited by hikoushi; 17th Apr 2014 at 08:02.