Pilot Handling Skills under Threat
I am glad that my Career included much hand flying and using the then state of the art autopilot / Flight Director systems.
To hand fly from take-off to the top of climb, then cruise at 0.8 Mach and FL 450 ( on the autopilot) and the manual descent to land gave a good feeling that you had made the grade. The ride for the passengers was equal to or better than when on the autopilot.
I feel that some of the current group of pilots may be missing some of this enjoyment.
My suggestion is to take every opportunity to practice your hand flying skills and as well use the present day Automatics System to the best of it's ability.
Tmb