Airbus sees the light - but will their clients? It will be a hard sell to convince Airbus operators to allow their crews to practice hand flying; particularly in Asia and the Middle East. Full marks to the manufacturer for trying, though.
All is not lost however. Emirates bites the bullet and reluctantly gives its pilots one hour every six months to actually hand fly the simulator raw data no automatics (shudder) . A courageous decision
From Flight International 17-23 June. Captain Martin Mahoney, Emirates senior vice president flight training, was reported as stating: “Emirates does not want its pilots to practice manual flying with paying passengers on board, so they give them simulator time to do it. In addition to the normal twice yearly line proficiency and operational proficiency check sessions, Emirates gives all its pilots a manual flying training hour in the simulator every six months”
In other words, two hours a year in a simulator where the automatics are turned off and the pilot flies by hand. Two hours a year will make a pilot proficient at manual flying- and that only in a simulator? Pull the other leg.