Having flown without any A/P until my last Type rating, I was wondering if the "turning the knobs",making sure the A/Ps do the right thing,FMA scanning ...wasnt asking more effort from the pilot than merely flying the bird...
I understand high altitude flying requires the precision of AP due to basic aerodynamic laws(low density,stall speed margin...)but hand flying would keep you in the loop rather than merely operating the A/C..and becoming complecent due to the AP work.
M.85