It's great fun hand flying a turboprop around, but with the longer flights of jets, an autopilot is absolutely necessary. At those speeds, you can't handfly smoothly and it's very hard work, as well as not fair on the passengers. So it is great to plug in the autopilot and relax a bit. I'm happy to plug in the autopilot on a 747 for 12 hours with a brief burst of hand flying at either end. Not as much fun as BFS-GLA hand flown low level up the Clyde, but still a rewarding experience. Would I go back? Funnily enough, it is tempting if someone takes my 747 away! Yes I would.