squall line

Hard anymore with these rnav departures. Our company requires the autopilot on, and I presume that goes for all 121, right?

mike734

Don't hand fly in busy terminal areas.

DirectTo

I flew for a 121 that did not...just the FD.

I hand fly up to anywhere between 2000 and cruise, and disconnect somewhere between cruise and 200 AGL depending on airports, day, and my mood.

I'll shoot some random non-precisions decently often to stay semi-proficient. Definitely lacking the solid instrument skills these days, just not enough practice.

CaptainCarl

WHACKMASTER

Bingo. I got into flying to FLY airplanes. Well, and chix too, but that hasn't worked out as expected. Anyway, I hand-fly with the ATs and AP off all the time (if the conditions allow) and encourage my F/Os to do so as well as I know that some of the guys they fly with discourage it.

There's really no other way to put this w/o coming across as pompous, but my manual flying skills are definitely above average in comparison to most of our pilots not because I'm a superior pilot but because I often hand-fly and enjoy nothing more in the cockpit than manually flying a visual approach.......okay, and hidden porn too, but that's a whole 'nother thread.

WHACKMASTER

Not my company. We hand-fly RNAV SIDs frequently.

JamesNoBrakes

They are concerned about the prevalence of MFDs and automation with training and simple aircraft now, because people aren't learning many of the correct flying skills, not understanding how to use the rudder, not actually using the nav instruments, but instead just placing the aircraft on the magenta line, unable to interpret a standard attitude indicator and 6-pack, only using the autopilot, given generally bad instruction (I remember a checkride I did years ago where a student was using "power to control altitude" on an XC on a turbulent day, I asked something to the effect of "how's that working for ya?"), etc. That's likely where much of this is coming from, in fact there are some large sections on this in the PTS and IFH. They are supposed to know how to USE these systems, but also to use them to make the situation better or less complex, not more. I've been privy to situations where automation made things harder and more complex, but you can only make it simpler IF you have the skills I mentioned above. If not, you're just as screwed. If you never learn "what is the aircraft doing" when you are in training, you are unlikely to know what is going on when flying without the AP and FD when you are flying something bigger, faster, and more complex IMO.

DrangonStar45

I appreciate automation.

SkyHigh

Hand flying to the flight director does not make any sense. Hand flying on climb out doesn't accomplish all that much.

Hand flying skills only improve when you are cranking and banking through configuration and airspeed change while engaging your brain to accomplish something.

Air transport category planes rarely get away from the straight and level 30 degree banked descending turns from ILS to ILS. If yuou don't have the skills by the time you reach an airline then you will never get them.

If you do have the skills but do not practice them in a real plane without 185 pax in back then you will loose them. To me it does not make any difference to fly the jetliner with the magic off.

Skyhigh

av8rmsu

My company changed the requirement from AP to FD a few months ago. I love to hand fly and try to stay somewhat sharp.