Damn instrument weenies
I hate how reliant on the avionics modern pilots have gotten. We live in an age were people trust the computer without understanding what the computer is actually doing. I'm not saying that the instruments are bad, they are very useful and make flying much safer and allow pilots to rest and save their mental energy for emergencies; I just mean that they should never trust a computer to do something they can;t do by themselves.
I am an amateur pilot, been doing it as a hobby for several years now. The most useful course I've ever taken, and something that really should be required for all private / commercial pilots to undergo would be to do a flight between two unfamiliar airports using only a set of crude charts (Accurate location of all landmarks and obstacles, waypoints, and airports; but missing a lot of useful, but non-essential data), a compass, an altimeter, an air-speed gauge, and a wristwatch. The instructor would have access to all instruments and control the radio. Pilots need to be able to do their job safely and efficiently in the worst-case scenarios, especially if the entire electrical system fails. Or at the very least, be able to identify when the avionics are lying.
A monkey could operate a modern aircraft, especially with modern avionics systems and auto-pilot systems intelligent enough to land a plane without a pilot behind the stick. With these new advances, a pilot's job has been shifted from flying the plane to identifying when things go wrong and know how to fix any situation.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
