Originally Posted by
ExperimentalAB
But to answer your question, no. I think it borders on irresponsible to use automation religiously. The two best Captains I've flown with flew raw-data almost exclusively. They were sharp as nails and I learned a ton on both trips. And let's be honest. I feel safer with my family on a ratty-old DC-9 or 727 with two crusty old guys who have never seen a FD or FMS...than one of our state-of-the-art RJ's. We Pilots today would NOT cut it 30 years ago...That's a sad fact!
And the they wouldn't have been able to cut compared to the pilots thirty years before, according to the pilots from the 50's when airliners still had big ol' pistons and nav'd off of radio beacons by their tone.
Not saying that they were better, or pilots now are. Just that it's a different type of flying now with different rules and different equipment. And that
anytime anything changes people bemoan that it's too easy now and that the old ways were better.