It's perfectly understandable that airline policy would want the computer to fly the plane - it can do a much better job of it - smoother, more efficiently and it lowers the pilots' workload. All fair points, so why do we even need pilots? Because we like to think that when the computers go wrong, the pilots will take over and save the day. Except they can't, because either they've forgotten how to, or worse still they've never actually (hand) flown a jet because their airline won't let them. Does anyone else think that is crazy? Surely there's a happy medium here. If we need 3 takeoffs and 3 landings every 90 days, surely that can be extended to include 3 hand flown climbs and descents and 3 hours of cruise? (PICs discretion, obviously. If things start to get busy then AP on and scrub that one.)