Are Pilots Forgetting How to Fly?

[Dan Roman]

Got to walk before you run.

Handflying is absolutely essential to those greater skills and a ridiculous amount of us do not have the simplest feel for the airplanes we fly. And there is no good justification for it.

Wave, I'm a little surprised as a SWA pilot you would be flying with a ridiculous amount of pilots that don't have a feel for the 737?? That should be SWA pilots strength giving the amount of take offs and landings you guys do. You guys spend a career flying one kind of A/C and that should be your strength. Those of us who fly different types of A/C in different types of environments during our careers are the ones who should be especially vigilant to keeping our hand flying skills sharp.
I can tell you from experience that long haul flying is were you really see the importance of staying on top of hand flying skills.
It's not that hard to do, it just takes a conscious effort to practice, as you pointed out with a little hand flying.

 

[densoo]

Seriously?

Apparently. Or else the FAA would mandate an annual day of training in a small plane without pax doing stalls and falls for an hour. I'm all for flying a/p off. I just think more than 25 degrees of bank and stall recoveries need to be a part of recurrent training. That appears to be too expensive.

 

[waveflyer]

Dan- not the only gig I've had- airline #6- swa is the best handflying major I've worked at- but I have had captains ask me to turn the AP back on bc its "too much work for them to monitor"...it's all individuals, you know.

 

[waveflyer]

Densoo- I see what you're saying now. I'm only disagreeing that handflying isn't useful not that more wouldn't be better -

 

[EatinRamen]

Dan- not the only gig I've had- airline #6- swa is the best handflying major I've worked at- but I have had captains ask me to turn the AP back on bc its "too much work for them to monitor"...it's all individuals, you know.

I try to hand-fly as much as possible after take off and during approach, but I have had captains ask me to click the auto pilot on, because they get overwhelmed with radios and MCP settings. (Side note, those have been 60 year old + guys that ask me to turn the a/p on.)

 

[Sacha]

I try to hand-fly as much as possible after take off and during approach, but I have had captains ask me to click the auto pilot on, because they get overwhelmed with radios and MCP settings. (Side note, those have been 60 year old + guys that ask me to turn the a/p on.)

At SWA? Because the odds of you flying with over 60 guys on a regular basis are pretty remote.

Nevermind. I see you work for Vision.

 

[densoo]

Densoo- I see what you're saying now. I'm only disagreeing that handflying isn't useful not that more wouldn't be better -

Yea, I have pretty much been implying that and flying some is certainly better than none, I just would like to see us getting out of envelope training on a regular basis. Many do this on their own.

 

[Mud Eagle]

where do neophyte pilots learn these skills if not in the cockpit of an airliner?

Uncle Sam's flying school still teaches pilots mostly right, depending on the track....

 

[Rough67]

if you are not comfortable hand flying whatever a/c you are on with both the automation on and off, you need practice. The best way to do that is to hand fly the airplane. If you can't do it smoothly you need to find a way to improve your flying skills on your days off.
Anybody who cannot smoothly and comfortably fly their a/c in all regimes they operate in and is unwilling to rectify that is in the wrong line of work.

+ 1.

 

[Jar Jar]

I hand fly in during climb cruise and descent because it is so difficult and requires a ton of skill to keep the aircraft on course and altitude. I can capture altitudes dudes! It's insane what I can do, I deserve to be paid more because i am so good at hand flying. Its like when i get low i pull up a bit but not too much! then when i get high I push down a bit and not too much! Its crazy hard guys, i know you regional guys just cant handle it.

If anything goes wrong during flight I keep hand flying and I tell the other guy to fix it. I dont really know what he's doing because I am so dedicated to my hand flying skills (which none of you have) that I refuse to use any automation what so ever. I am the best aviator on Earth because I can hand fly an airliner, so yeah.