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.

In the ER it can be a problem, in the LR rarely, in the XR I've only heard of it once and it was a 3 hour flight with 2 alternates.

Who the hell cares?, We don't fly aircraft like they did 30 years ago. The safety statistics speak for themselves, we operate aircraft with a higher level of safety, efficiency, and speed that didn't exist 30 years ago.

Safety statistics have improved greatly over the last thirty years because of technology like EGPWS, TCAS, LLWS Alerting, etc...NOT because we now have a FD crutch...is it now just a race to the bottom? Just because the Pilots of today CAN rely on new, fancy equipment, doesn't necessarily mean we should. I think doing so is lazy, irresponsible, and un-professional.

You can go ahead and and forget that you are actually a Pilot ::gasp:: I will continue trying to be the best Pilot I can be - managing a/c systems and components, hand-flying, SA, the entire package...

No offense meant, but this sounds like more of an opinion than anything. Anyone have the numbers to back up this claim?

Any chance I could use this line as my sig freezingboy? Brilliant!:D

An opinion it is, but I have no doubt that numbers would back this one up...when I get back to my computer I'll take a look into it. Besides, accidents obviously haven't decreased because we are now better Pilots. Just more Reg's and technology that we have "blood on the runway" to thank for...

Permission granted as long as i get credit and you keep that badass avatar:D

You sound a lot like an old crusty captain I flew with who yelled at me for putting a point in the FMS along our route for descent planning purposes going into Mexico (they can be very stingy with the descents in Mexico sometimes). I believe his exact words were "don't touch that damn box, its gonna fly us into a mountain!".:rolleyes:

Why don't you try your little anti-autopilot/FD BS when you're headed into a mountainous terrain at night with bad weather, a worthless Mexican air traffic "controller" and something broke on the airplane, like the flaps. Do the words "task saturation" mean anything to you? I don't care if you ARE Chuck F*ing Yeager, I think I'd slap you, call you the little b!tch you are and turn on the dang autopilot before you kill us all trying to prove what a "real" pilot is.

Yeah, thats me :rolleyes:

If you had actually taken the time to read my previous posts, you would know that I am certainly NOT anti-technology, but rather anti-band-aid/crutch. As I said earlier, automation should be used when safety of flight is concerned. NOT because we cannot handle the aircraft w/o it.