If you fly an aircraft with a/p or wing-leveller (and many SEPs have them, they just might not have been pointed out to you)
It certainly should have been pointed out to you. At the very least, you should be checking that it is switched off prior to take-off, and checking that it can be switched off as part of your pre-flight!
I have to say that this is an excellent thread. There's nothing new in here, but it's the kind of information that we all need to be reminded about every now and then. Personally, I've never managed to actually get myself into a cloud accidentally, but I have found myself in worse vis than I'd have liked, or becoming squeezed into a gap between the clouds and the ground, and although these situations are not as serious as Flock1's example scenario, ATC have always been unbelievably helpful.
FFF
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