Originally Posted by
FDMII
The candidate was always made to hand-fly, no autothrust, no flight directors during line indoc. While flying the line I offered to turn/pull/push the knobs while the F/O flew for fun and found almost no takers, particularly with autothrust off.
I thought it was a shameful to admit one didn't understand the airplane well enough to fly it. Such refusal is an indictment not of the airplane, the designers or the fabulous nav & performance tools now available, but of the pilot him/herself.
That's why the character and nature of accidents has changed over the last decade.
I applaud you for having that attitude, but there is little of that attitude around now.
Nowadays, the company will bite your head off for tripping one of the "gates" which is always more likely when hand flying, so the captains understandably are not keen.
Added to this is the fact that the captains have not been doing it themselves so are further from their comfort zone where they are happy to let the baby copilots explore the edges of the boundaries whilst learning their craft.
There is no reward structure whatsoever in any airline I am aware of for being excellent.
There are only punishments for not being adequate, with adequate being a remarkably low bar.
As long as you meet the minimum standard, you are treated the same as everybody else.
I can think of no other industry in the world that operates like that yet expects a high level of performance.
There is no other profession requiring training, skill and aptitude where progression is based upon joining date rather than excellence.
If piloting skill were rewarded, then perhaps the decline could be halted.