Hooraah. B to B. Recurrent training is a sticking plaster on the wound caused by lack of basic training. I feel there needs to be an operation. IMHO it is where the root cause is; at the beginning. Obviously Encore is a modern pilot as he trained on a C152 and not a C150. (there are others who trained on a C130, and that is the biggest Cessna I've ever seen. I digress, sorry)
But it is true; us old farts were brought up on B732 & DC-9's etc. It was Mk.1 eyeball out the window with hand and feet on everything. We knew what parameters to set in power/attitude. We knew speed v distance v height = energy. We kew how to control the a/c to achieve the required task. Simple. KISS as much as possible. That was an SOP.
I still advocate the beginning of jet training should a continuance of flight school training on basic a/c. First learn to fly the basic a/c and then learn to operate and manage it. In modern jet training and MPL courses the emphasis is on the SOP MPL operation of the a/c and not how to fly it and make it do what you want in any given scenario. This could be via manual control or AFDS. Then, when you are caught by surprise with an unusual manoeuvre out of the blue you just do what is necessary using your knowledge. Yes, practice may be necessary, but that was a daily matter on B732. If you never had the knowledge in the first place then you had only the SOP manual to revert to. That is too often the case after a modern jet TQ course. That is not being a pilot in control of the situation. The SOP manual can not cover every eventuality.
I'm sure the Apollo 13 guys didn't have an SOP manual for their "up the creek" moment. There has been many an occasion when an SOP did not exist. Neil Williams's inverted approach with his wing folding up comes to mind. The Sioux City DC-10 and the latest Qantas A380, also. Sadly, there have been other avoidable smoking holes if the basics had been adhered to, but they had lost in the mashed pulp of 'operating automatic SOP's' which permeated through the TQ course.
2 sessions of basic flying; no FD no A/T just Mk.1 brain, hands & feet. Then add the AFDS, then the autopilot, then the NNC scenarios. Build the foundations first, solid, then the structure will not fall down at the first puff of wind. Add the curtains and furniture after the roof is on and windows closed.