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Old 5th September 2003 | 01:00
  #79 (permalink)  
Maximum
 
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 292
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Strafer, although airline (and in fact all) professional flying has a largely routine element to it, the idea that the autopilot does everything with very little hand flying allowed is one of the great myths that isn't actually correct.

All the airlines I've had experience with leave the amount of hand flying up to the crew's own good judgement (within the larger confines of the SOP's of course). Obviously it's in the airlines' own best interests to have pilots who are in very good hand flying practice - and in short haul ops they will be.

Long haul presents its own problems, as obviously the amount of hand flying any one individual can do in a month becomes restricted by the sector length, and as a result the number of sectors per month. However, the professionalism and experience of the crews make up for any shortfall in hand flying practice.
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