I personally never practice hand flying on the line,
Goodness gracious me! Are you that dangerous? The author of that fine book "Handling the Big Jets" Captain D.P Davies offers this sage advice:
Do not become lazy in your professional lives...the autopilot is a great comfort, so are the flight director and the approach coupler ..but do not get into the position where you need these devices to complete a flight..keep in practice at in raw ILS particularly in crosswinds..keep in practice in hand-flying at altitude and in making purely visual approaches..as we get older we all become slightly more lazy, slightly more tired - and this is a bit of a trap..the demand of jet transport flying can be best met by enthusiasm..
These words written in 1967 are just as valid 40 years later..
