I think it is fair to say that the Airbus fly-by-wire technology and general design philosophy represented a significant step forward when it was first introduced and to this day, on-balance, has made a significant contribution to improving safety and efficiency. Us pilots are often a conservative and cynical bunch, however, it does not matter if you fly an Airbus or a Boeing. On either type the majority of the time is spent 'flying' the aircraft on automatics (just on the B the cockpit is a retro throw back to the sixties
)
So moving this argument on it is not fair to argue that the Airbus design philosophy is responsible for the dumbing down of flying skills when in fact it has probably prevented a great number of accidents. You could probably prove this quite easily.
Furthermore, if the issue is lack of flying skills - then why on earth would you want to circumvent the very systems that are there to protect the pilot from himself
I also do not believe that the issue is driven bean by counters per-se. The issue is experience. The fact is that demand for air travel has grown exponentially. This demand requires pilots at an increasing rate. You cannot fast forward experience - this requires time served in the cockpit of an aircraft (be it an Airbus, Boeing or even a C152).
It is normally experience that saves the day and unfortunately experience is often something you don't get until after you actually need it
