Airhoss

That is kind of the reality of the situation. When you are flying the line and doing multiple 7+ hour block days with several legs or more and 12 hour duty days the Auto Pilot sure is a nice thing to have.

DrangonStar45

12 hour duty days + Part 91 re positioning, makes hand flying a Metroliner torturous.

USMCFLYR

I'm flying our oldest stuff.
Here is a picture of the cockpit (EFIS 86)
Photos: Beech Super King Air 300 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
ProLine21 equipped KA are making it to the line now - just a few YEARS behind schedule.
The L60s - well I'm not sure where their avionics lie in the scheme of years.
Photos: Learjet 60 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Challengers (601/04/05) have updated PL4/21 cockpits themselves.

Nah....if anything can be described as fancy it is the calibration of the instrumentation in back of course which is a set national standard for the measurements.
We do have the opportunity though to hand fly a lot though in the KAs so I really enjoy that part, but some of the flying (like measurements of an ILS glideslope for example that might take HOURS, it is nice to have the AP do a majority of the flying (it also takes the human out of the equation so that measurements can be taken of what the actual electronic signal is sending to the AP)

JohnBurke

I'm a big believer in hand flying. For many years, I've had to concentrate on using automation, because that was always my weakest area. My crutch was disconnecting the automation and going to hand flying the moment things weren't going 100%.

When I did atmospheric research, especially thunderstorm penetrations, it was all hand flying. It had to be.

In large transport category equipment, I like to hand fly to RVSM, then turn it over to automation. I prefer to do every other approach hand flown and every other approach on automation; maintaining proficiency in both areas is important.

I do a lot of conventional gear flying and low level flying. It's all hand-flown, as it must.

You wouldn't know about that, really. Hand flying can be enhanced substantially when flying with a flight director. Mimicking the precision and lead of the flight director can teach one precision and smoothness. It tends to encourage one to be proactive rather than reactive when flying an arrival or an approach.

Hand flying on climb-out makes a lot of sense. Every bit as much as flying an arrival. One generally can't hand fly above RVSM altitudes, and when doing so it's more a matter of patience than developing or maintaining skills to do straight and level in cruise. The climb to altitude is an excellent time to be hand flying the airplane. It can accomplish quite a bit for proficiency.

I've seen a few pilots get disoriented hand flying during a turn-out over the Persian Gulf. It's a good exercise in maintaining basic instrument skills and situational awareness, and it's perhaps the safest time to do it. It's also a good time to be fully in the loop with the aircraft in the event of a problem.

How much "cranking and banking" did you ever do you your short, illustrious career?

Hand flying skills improve or maintain when doing a wide variety of activities. You won't find "cranking and banking" anywhere in the practical test standards for any certificate or rating. It's never been a part of an sim or flight evaluation I've taken, outside of certain utility operations.

You indicated that configuration and airspeed changes are necessary to build or maintain hand flying skills, but you also previously indicated that hand flying during the climb-out is worthless. Given that takeoff and the climb profile involves configuration changes and speed changes, your unqualified observations would seem to be at odds.

As always, completely untrue. The learning process is a continuing one. Your transport category experience would appear to be quite limited, at best.

Garbage. The presence of passengers is irrelevant, and there's a very good reason that much of the training we do today is done in simulators.

It does not make any difference to "fly the jetliner with the magic off?" Of course it makes a difference; hand flying is not the same as using automation. They're quite different skillsets which should complement one another by maintaining proficiency in both through regular practice and experience.

HercDriver130

Thanks JB.... I was about to enlighten our "expert". Of course you would have to have seen the threads where he believe we are all "automatons" and really are not needed anyway. Sky has obviously not flown a complex European RNAV SID where there is very little room for error for noise abatement, with multiple speed restrictions down low...heavy weight (800k) ...etc et al..if he doesnt think flying a departure by hand is not useful...pfft.. again as usual engaging his mouth with out the brain attached.

bcrosier

+1 on the entire post. I was going to formulate a similar reply, but no need since Airhoss did so quite effectively.

njb100

Even Airbus is finally encouraging airmanship skills over rote automation as a requirement in the cockpit

727gm

Will wonders never cease!??