How do you define "oldies"?
Apparently 20'000 hours did not help in this incident:
xcitation, I didn't say oldies were infallible.
In the case of AF447 the Commander was not on the flight deck and/or at the controls when the event started to materialise.
In the case of AirAsia it would be interesting to know how much of that 20,000 hours was done on large jet transports with round dials, basic autopilot with no auto throttle and no FMC etc.
Perhaps "oldies" was an inappropriate term to use but the point I am making is that those who have done a lot of hand flying basic jets with minimal automation (even if a bit out of practice) are in a better position to maintain safe control when the automation decides to be not available.
Years ago we would think nothing about despatching with an inoperative autopilot because we knew we could competently hand fly at cruise levels.