Firstly, COTML IS an excellent training tool - not for pilots but for those in management and who set the priorities of the airline in training pilots
‘Click – Click’, the need to disengage automation, but there is little guidance as to how a pilot determines when to disengage.
- never mind 'when' - more of a problem is the trepidation in so doing, since
a) They have little idea how to fly manually
b) There is almost certainly an underlying culture or pressure not to do so but to 'use the automatics'
c) Sometimes there is concern that the other pilot wil be 'spooked' by the disconnect
The days of being 'proud' to execute a safe, comfortable visual approach from anywhere around the airfield have gone. Now it is more important to be an 'ace' with the buttons. I have lost count of the times my co-pilots have declined a visual downwind in CAVOK and gone out to 15 miles for an ILS - well, tried to decline, shortly to lose the 'PF' status.
What is airmanship - you DO have some good questions.... how old is that one?
Is it
a) The desire to save one's skin, thereby
b) looking after pax, crew and tin/plastic
c) the desire to constantly strive to learn more and become a better pilot.
for starters? I think one is either born or brought up wirh the mindset but there is huge scope for improving the faculty. 'UP' is easy for airline pilots.