The true flight director is the pilot flying. That's what we were taught back when autopilots tripped off regularly, often for no apparent reason, and computing power behind the instruments seemed just a bit faster than a guy handy with an E6B and a stopwatch.
If you did have the command bars switched on, you knew the system wasn't intended as a replacement for piloting skills, only as a smart, but occasionally misinformed/uninformed aid. You knew this because you knew what the numbers were, what they were supposed to be, and what direction they were moving in, because this is how we used to fly airplanes.
To get the best out of the FD, we should already know where we are and where we are headed with respect to the raw data (numbers) and use the bars as rough guide. If something doesn't add up, the answers are almost always right in front of you, but the 'calculus' can take some time.
This is where EFIS equipped aircraft can help combat the loss of SA and build the big picture if we pay attention to the trend indicators. These mitigate the loss of intrinsic awareness moving dials used to provide and guide the anticipation of pitch and power changes needed to keep on path and speed, a job description of the FD and the PF.
Last edited by vapilot2004; 31st Oct 2016 at 09:32.