I cannot understand why any airline would insist on automatics being used at all times.
Just to be clear, because a film of a BA operation kicked this thread off, BA do
not insist on automatics being used at all times...
People do seem to be getting things in a twist here and elsewhere about BA procedures, (again possibly because of that darned video)...
At BA if it's your sector you are allowed to "handfly" the thing up to when the likes of RVSM kicks in..prior to TOD you brief your colleague on the arrival, hand over control, and his/her job is to get the thing in the slot for your landing...during the approach they are usually perfectly at liberty to handfly the thing, outside of RVSM and weather/RNAV etc permitting...you take it for the landing....it may seem strange ( agreed) but after a bit of experience it works fine, it means if you are managing an emergency as the PIC there is no change to the flow you normally use, and you get just as much opportunity to handfly as does the guy working to what many of you see as the more time honoured way of doing things..
But on my day on the B744 my co pilot could if he chose, on a day like that, manually fly the aircraft from any time in the descent through to parking the aircraft.
So over two sectors ( typical long haul trip) on the "other day" presumably they spent the sector operating the services, record keeping and doing the R/T....so on a typical non-augmented Long-Haul trip they get one descent,one approach, one landing and one go at parking.
Over two sectors at BA ( RVSM/RNAV permitting) a co-pilot can, if he/she chooses, manually fly a descent, an approach, a landing through to parking the aircraft...so over time (e.g. a typical Long Haul non-augmented out and back) the BA procedures have not reduced the opportunities for co-pilot handling.
.....IMHO if people on the line are not opting to "handfly" at BA then that is a personal issue, not because the company ban it...