With today's technology I would think it would be possible to do the same with a small jet like a Citation Mustang and have it respond like whatever airliner you wanted. You could then allow line pilots to hand fly those. It would give crews actual hand flying time at a fraction of the cost of flying the actual airliners.
Absolutely correct, to the degree that something like 15 years ago (knowledge about the limits of simulation, automation dependence etc., and the need for hand flying competency is not new) several specially strengthened Citation were built, for in-flight upset and recovery training with real G-loads.
If I recall correctly, they were used initially by the US Navy, and proved the idea.
Colleagues and I, with a view towards upset and recovery training, particularly to the cohort of airline pilots to whom 35 degrees angel of bank was an "unusual attitude (ie: had never done any aerobatics, maybe never even spin and recovery) approached a number of US and Australian airlines.
In each case the answer was the same --- when it is required by regulation, we will look at it.
In each case (5 airlines) the good sense and value of the idea was not disputed by the airline's training department, just the cost -- if "the opposition" didn't have to bear the same costs, forget it.
To this day no simulator can, and probably never will, be able to realistically simulate an upset and recovery.