"There are no SOPs for the unknown unknowns and the 21st Century airline pilot is so heavily drilled in sticking to the SOPs that when something unusual is thrown at him, he doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t have the basic stick and rudder skills to take over and hand-fly or even worse, looks to the automation to save the day."
Doesn't know what to do = lack of in-depth training. No knowledge of all the options in the design of the a/c, the envelop boundaries of the a/c nor themselves.
Looks to automation = having been taught like a trained monkey.
Add: Scared to deviate from SOP's. = finding oneself outside the comfort zone. Thinking that the SOP might not be so appropriate, but scared to try something else for fear of reprisal.
Today's minimum trained pilots do not think first as pilots, they think first as SOP a/c systems operators. What irritated me, after spending various moments of a varied career at various airlines flying the same type, was when I left one with some very good SOP's for some profiles, then had to relearn an inferior method with the following company. They too had some very good SOP's, some better than the previous, but they thought they were the top dog at everything and thus were reluctant to discuss possible improvements/changes to anything. "we've done it like this for years with no bother." They were reactive not proactive. Changes came after events; some that could have been avoided by being more open minded: or a change of C.P. or HOT's. It's human nature, but not the best CRM that is rammed down our throats ad infinitum. Trouble with applying CRM is there has to be a perceived problem first to start the process.