Hand Flying
Glad to read your post and hope you continue the hand flying whenever you get the chance.
I have retired now but used to enjoy hand flying Corporate Jets from take-off , to cruise and down to landing . I expected the pilots who I was responsible for to be able to do the same. A few stories there!
Pilots should be competent in both hand flying and autopilot / automatics operation. It gives one a lot of satisfaction.
Regards
Tmb