And Blue06, do these guys move right to left with the same level of manual flying skills ?
On a recurrent sim I unfroze my ATPL. The TRE for the day told me how he had to fail a guy the previous day for cocking up three raw data ILSes from intercept heading.
To unnecessarily increase workload and risk of error, both for PF and PM, is quite simply poor airmanship, on a revenue flight full of passengers who have paid to have the flight operated in the safest possible manner
Sounds like the typical Ryanair excuse. Other airlines actively encourage manual flying and has no limit on FD on/off or weather requirements. They trust their crew to excersise good judgement. I always ask my colleauge if he's up for a bit of manual flight. I think everyone should be able to coop with a raw data ILS to a five hundred foot ceiling. Of course it is more workload than riding the autopilot, but not beyond manageable. The thing is, one day you might need it...