'I can't see how a pilot could let skills decay to the point he lacks the confidence to disconnect at any time.'
Using the sim for a few minutes is not enough IMHO. It's a start, but not the end. In my apprentice years a visual manual approach was the norm and looked forward to. It was the company culture. Airfields with no approach aids, just let down procedures, held no trepidation. Night arrivals into NDB airfields with limited lighting; no hesitation. Visual approaches from downwind with an ILS waiting for the last minute confirmation you'd got it right; a joy. It was demonstrated by the captains and learnt at their knee; it was the culture.
In recent airlines the opposite is true. All that good stuff is frowned upon. The rapid expansion of many airlines, with crews over the horizon and at an extended arms length, the leash is kept tight to avoid any cowboys. It is not helped by a sparse local oversight at bases. Rigid SOP trained monkeys give some peace of mind to mission control, over the other horizon. It has been said that the increase in G/A's (unstable at landing gate) after the winter, as soon as CAVOK arrived, was startling. That is time & money to tight schedules and tough profits. Restrict such adventures is the quick fix answer. That's todays real world. However, if the culture had been different in the beginning (chicken & egg) perhaps the problem might have been procatively avoided; perhaps. The rate of expansion of many airlines has proved too fast for such philosophies. Sadly, therefore, I suspect the sea-change in culture will not happen because the task will be too formidable.
A few moments in the sim will be for nothing unless it is consolidated on the line on a daily basis. What I would prefer to see, as a step forward, is a massive improvement in the basic type rating training of many pilots: more in depth training of how the a/c flies and what it is capable of. Dilute the SOP's and allow the crew to use the a/c systems and capabilities to perform the task required. Professional choice & behaviour. There are various methods of completing a G/A once the a/c is safely transitioned from approach to climbing. What is required? It is a CAVOK day; ATC call a late G/A; you clean up to intermediate flaps, fly visual down-wind and land. Simple, easy, un-rushed. Some airlines have only 1 G/A profile. The whole 9 yards have to be accomplished and a full approach set up performed. Thus the crews do not know the various options available. They have not been trained in depth about the a/c systems & capabilities and are not allowed to use them. All this has nothing to do with more hand flying, it is to do with understanding and being able to control your steed as you see fit and as required. More manual flying with trained monkey SOP's will not provide too many gains. An increase in knowledge and understanding, and freedom of professional choice is the foundation that could well be the start of a worthwhile change. I wonder how much the management really trust their captains to make those judgements.