Originally Posted by
seafeye
Electronic flight instrument system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I can't see it being a deal breaker. There were some old school pilots from Piedmont that went to US Airways and had a real hard time with the systems on the Airbus. I think a lot of it has to do with attitude. (no pun intended) Just do what the instructor tells you and you will be fine.
Modern airplanes are not meant to be hand flown. They can, but then it can overload your partner. If you have been flying steam gauges for the past 20 years it is going to be harder for you to learn to fly with a computer screen in front of you. It's easier but you have to think before you start pushing buttons. There is a fine balance between being 100% reliant on the autopilot systems and being able to do hand flown, zero guidance visual approaches. As shown by Asiana. Learn with training wheels then take them off your bike has worked for years.
Really? I flew for what you call Piedmont...and we called Henson...a long time ago. No autopilots, VOR/ILS by the F/O's right knee in a BE-99...and you're saying "modern airplanes" aren't meant to be handflown because the workload is too heavy on the NFP?
Get serious, man. The -400 is about as close to being a single pilot airplane as you can get, and if they had moved everything closer, they'd have tried.
Transitioning from steam isn't difficult if you clear your head, approach it logically and ask questions when you need to. Boeing builds airplanes for pilots to FLY, with computers to back them up. Anyone who sits back and lets the magic take over from 500' agl to rollout will be totally useless when the magic goes blank and they haven't hand flown the bird.
Taking a 747...or any other plane to cruise and then turning on the autopilot...or hand flying a descent...is not only easy, it's not "hard" on the other guy. And heaven forbid, it keeps your skillset sharp.