Originally Posted by
Airbum
I don't ALWAYS hand fly to 10,000-25,000 but do it most of the time. I also hand fly below 10,000 ft on the arrivals routinely. My companies policy is the Captain determines the level of automation to be used
I can just hear the guys who don't even have autopilots laughing.
Yep
Originally Posted by
STILL GROUNDED
Honestly it is a pain in the ass when you get some Joe Flyer that thinks he is impressing you with his hand flying skills in a heavy work load environment. Leaving ATL, ORD, DFW these places get hairy enough sometimes for the pilot not flying that when you now have to manage the bugs for the "Hand Flyer" calls get missed or confused adding to the work load. Frankly, turn it on and its a much easier job. Have a little consideration for the non flying pilot and go rent a Cessna if you want to impress yourself. my $.02
Scary thought. Just do me a favor and don't go joy riding a 172 without someone to handle the radios for you.
THere are a whole lot of us who routinely fly single pilot (with and without an autopilot) into all those busy places. I DO agree that proper use of automation is a GREAT thing. But I have seen many more pilots lose the ability to hand fly than those who lose the ability to command George. (And before I hear the "everything happens faster in a jet" argument, many of us "dinks" can keep up pretty well below 10,000)