Aterpster
Your presumption would be correct. IMHO
I remember the days of flying a PC check and the only time you would use the auto pilot was when the instructor/check airman was reloading glitches in the simulator.
If you could fly those simulators by hand, you could fly the plane by hand.
It is possible that the guys in this accident had lost some skills by using the automation so much.
Manual go-arounds are probably barely practiced these days in the sim.
Regards,
OBD