are there really 'pilots' on the line out there who cannot fly without a FD or look through the FD and fly sensibly when/if required?
You betcha life there are and probably in their thousands. Had a newbie in the 737 simulator with 300 hours total time of which 100 hours in the real 737. He was employed as a first officer in foreign airline
When asked to conduct a take off, circuit and land with FD and AT switched off he became quite agitated and said he had never flown with FD and AT off.
Yet his licence showed he had completed a full command type rating.
Needless to say he was unable to cope with hand flying in even visual conditions without the aid of the FD and AT. Height keeping was +/- 800 ft and airspeed +/- 50 knots. Bank angle at one point was 60 degrees. This was no exaggeration, believe me. These people are out there on line and are the future captains of large jet transports