You will not get an argument from me against this logic. I did not intend to create a firestorm regarding principles of flight, and I did not intend that in the more advanced aircraft with sophisticated yaw damper input and control that pilots need to augment those systems by use of manual input to the rudder. In fact, although I was not explicit in my previous suggestion, I was referring primarily to my pre-Boeing experience (23 years on the DC-9) where almost every single pilot that I worked with, both Captains and F/O's retracted their feet on rotation. Result—almost every turn was slipped.GRK2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:20 am Cmon Raymond, you appear to be a bright fellow. Listen to what the informed and more recently experienced pilots are saying. You seem to be a bit behind the times when it comes to how complicated SIDS and STARS are to flown in busy terminal areas. Hand flying has its place in many operations, but it has to be balanced between what is required by SOP's and when it's appropriate. I agree with the majority here that "real pilots" can still fly using all the features their machines have in all phases, but it takes a good one to know when to use those features properly and to do it with maximum safety and efficiency.
My main comment was to the effect that if we do not hand fly the aircraft sufficiently enough to maintain our skills as professional pilots, our skills will atrophy, just like our muscles will atrophy when we are bed ridden.
And I did not mean to intend that every SID should be hand flown, especially critically complex SIDs. My principle point was that as professional pilots, we must never forget that we are at the controls of an airplane, not a computer. Lose track of the situational awareness at one's own peril. Place too much trust in confidence in the automation at one's own peril. Hands and feet are still important. But even more important is the constant awareness of the flight profile and one's requirement to be in control of the aircraft's flight characteristics, at all times.
Recent design imperatives, such as those in the Max evolution, have attempted to minimize the role of pilots and training with respect to the more advanced software implementations, to the point of designing systems in order to avoid any pilot training costs whatsoever, and to the point of not even providing information in the aircraft flight manuals of systems such as MCAS.
Those imperatives have impeded pilots' abilities to recognize and control the primary flight characteristics of their own aircraft. This is particularly acute in the case of pilots who have no hands and feet experience whatsoever, such as the 200-hour F/O charged with the responsibility of passenger safety in the most recent accident.
Those imperatives must be challenged.