I have already stated that I have always embraced automation but am an equal enthusiast for stick and rudder skills.
Nugpot makes a very valid point when he says that using the autopilot in a problem situation can be an absolute Godsend. As a TRI/TRE I teach pilots to ALWAYS use the autopilot if at all possible when things get difficult. This is especilally important in the 2-man cockpit. It takes so much pressure off the PF while the PNF is dealing with the problem and managing the situation.
There have been quite a few instances where the tendency to disconnect the autopilot whenever something catastrophic happens has turned out to be the nail in the coffin.
For example, it could be argued that if the automatics on the Turkish DC-10 at Paris had been left in then it may well have been able to do an auto-land back at Orly. (Without getting too involved, the hydraulics ran underneath the floor - which was catastrophically damaged - whereas the electrics for the autoland ran along the roof which was intact).
Now I absolutely do not criticise the captain for taking the automatics out when he had such a catastrophic failure for it was in those days the instinctive thing to do. Sadly, as it turned out, it was not the best solution.
Now then, the closest I have ever got to dying in an aeroplane happened one night over Northern Canada when the automatics in my aeroplane (Triplex) threw out and left me very close to the stall and a control column that was frozen in pitch.
We hand-flew the aircraft for 7 hours on the elevator trim wheel before it was possible to get the automatics back in. During those 7 hours it was just about possible to keep the rate of climb and descent between 700 ft per minute. I was very glad that I had good hand-flying skills otherwise we might all have died.
So; what am I as an old dinosaur saying? I am saying that you should use ANY working automatics to your advantage when things get nasty but, when the fancy stuff fails, if you do not possess decent hand skills to deal with emergencies which are simply not covered in your beloved QRH, then some of you are statistically going to die.