[rcxdude]

> Its allowing a class of pilots to fly who know less and less, and are more reliant on the automation. With deadly results.

This is a plausible hypothesis, but it is reflected in the data? Flying has gotten safer and safer over the years, but of course that's got a multitude of effects contributing to it, not just the skill of the pilots. Reliance on automation is effectively a requirement for modern aircraft given the number of control systems which are critical to the pilot having any control of the aircraft. I've seen Boeing criticized for their approach here: while Airbus's interface is more or less "you are directing a series of control systems, not flying the plane directly", Boeing has essentially tried to concoct an elaborate illusion that a gigantic airliner is a Cessna, which a leaky abstraction even if it makes the pilot feel like they are "closer to the metal". (I could draw a comparison to C programmers who feel the same thing despite the great honking illusion of an optimizing compiler in between).