Originally Posted by
norfolkungood
Few of the guys I fly with have any interest/desire of flying the jet manually. Even when offered most will disconnect at a 1000 ft when fully configured. It is a skill that is quickly being eroded and there’s always a reason not too...LH sector, too tired, too busy etc. Apparently the next guidance from on high will be autopilot in at 200ft after takeoff....
I think it should be a convention to hand fly until clean with some exceptions (threats). On the arrival, I certainly understand allowing the autopilot to fly until fully configured because there are many more threats (than on most departures) and fatigue is quite often a significant consideration. On days when the weather is good, traffic is lite, and fatigue isn’t a problem; I highly recommend hand flying below 10k’, even / especially on raw data.