Splat, I am not sure of the reasons behind Eagle deciding to have the autopilots removed from the 1900s but I was genuinely surprised. Personally I believe that they are an invaluable safety tool. Should the **** be hitting the fan they allow pilots to dedicate more time and mental thought process to dealing with the situation at hand. I know eagle check to single pilot standard so pilots must be very proficeint with their handling and decision making. However, take the case a short while ago when one of their pilots was incapacitated, how would it have looked had something else gone wrong then (murphys and all). It is a bloody high workload expected of one person to be flying the plane, navigating, and dealing with two very different emergencies.
You can call it being lazy but in a lot of situations the autopilot will manouver the aircraft more precisely and smoothly than us mere humans leading to enhanced passenger comfort and satisfaction; which is what our job is all about at the end of the day. Well getting them there safely to.
Does the new to Eagle 1900 that I believe you guys are getting have an autopilot? Will the CBs be pulled and locked? I would be fighting that if you could.
My two cents, cheers.