Originally Posted by
Jack Bauer
Could this new hand flying "practice" in the sim be a result of Air France Flight 447?
"In the agency's final report, which was released today, investigators determined that a combination of technical failures and mistakes made by inadequately trained pilots was responsible for the crash. They recommended that pilots be better trained to manually fly commercial aircraft at high altitudes..."
It seems the First Officer had become so reliant on automation (and was probably trained in one of those european ab initio training cram jobs) he could not recognize what was happening when the airplane entered a stall...calling for the Captain to come help (the Captain was temporarily out of the cockpit). Watch the video with cvr text below and the video that follows.
Air France Flight 447 Crash 'Didn't Have to Happen,' Expert Says - ABC News
I've heard from a few NWA pilots that NWA used to train for that particular type of failure as it had occurred on a few occasions.
Technological advancments and improved reliability have masked many potential deficiencies in a pilot's ability to fly an aircraft. Just my opinion, and to be clear I include myself in that statement.
It takes a certain initiative to keep your hand flying skills warm. Personally, as an FO, I'm not always certain about the captain's operational preferences are. Some don't like VS and some don't like Vnav. Some prefer autopilot on until the runway is in sight even in marginal conditions. Keeping in mind turning off the autopilot increases the workload of the PM quite a bit.
It's a fine line between practicing hand flying abilities and saturating a flight crew's workload. We're taught to use the autopilot as a method to decrease our workload when dealing with weather, complex reroutes/clearances, or mechanical failures, but we are not taught to specifically use it to increase our workload when not dealing with any of the aforementioned issues.
The cost cutting approach to pilot flight training while leaning on the technology is slowly starting to come around full circle.