Capt. Palmer;
Even as late as the A320/A330/A340 Airbus types, I still recall the value of "looking through" the FDs to the real picture / situation behind.
If I recall correctly, the Japan Airlines DC8-62 accident,
(report) resulted from the captain not understanding the FD and followed it taking the aircraft below the glide slope.
Those of us now retired or about to retire may still recall the elementary FDs of Douglas and Boeing aircraft, (the L1011s was a bit more sophisticated at the time) and quietly developed the habit of looking through the directors to the actual information on the HSI, (for others, Horizontal Situation Indicator).
The value of this subtle, psychological "work-around", (evolving as it did through lack of sophistication of the FDs at the time, and a mistrust and a lack of training/knowledge of the FD) remained a useful (and for situations like AF447, and indispensible) "tool" as it was always the "sober second opinion" when more sophisticated FDs such as the Airbus' FDs were incorporated with the autoflight system.
Not saying ignore the FDs...just bear in mind what's actually going on "behind" them - one is for real, the other tells you what the autoflight is
going to do, not necessarily what it's doing!
When it came time for manually flying a raw-data, (no FDs) ILS approach, the view of the actual aircraft situation without the FDs and other symbols was "normal"... even as the standards people might frown on such methods.
The simulator can, and today should, be used for such basic skills training and examination.
Try the following exercise next time there are a few moments spare time, (rare, I know) in the sim:
Establish level flight at 10,000ft, 250kts. With no FDs, no heading bugs and no autopilot or autothrust, begin a coordinated climb to 15,000ft while turning 90deg to the left and when reaching that heading, turning back to the original heading, all at 250kts, capturing the target altitude smoothly, (ie, most "passengers", (this IS the sim!), would not know you've leveled off. Then immediately begin a descent to return to 10,000ft, maintaining 250kts, while turning to the right 90deg and then when reaching that heading, turning back to the original heading, leveling off at 10,000ft. Remember, no autothrust! - you've got to know the power settings, attitudes, control-column/stick pressures to do it all well and your scan has to be near-flawless, whether steam or glass.
Variations while doing these climbing/descending S-turns would be to start the exercise at 10,000ft with the first or second flap selection made, then begin the climbing S turn while cleaning up, accel to 250kts, level off, then reverse the process ending up at the flap selection/speed one began with.
These weren't standard in the sim but they weren't rare either. They test one's abilities far better than the standard V1 cuts and should be in the syllabus for every sim session, (takes about a half hour of time).
Enjoying your book...many thanks for writing it.