IO540
Its extremely possible that an auto pilot in GA can put you in a UA, the AI will no doubt be pointing straight and level at the time.......
Hang on... you are saying that the AP (not the pilot) puts the plane into an UA (which generally means an AP failure) and the pilot just sits there? Did you get this from some CAA leaflet on proper airmanship, written by an ex RAF navigator?
One can stall a plane by doing a low power setting descent and when the AP levels off at the preset altitude, the airspeed bleeds off (Turkish 737 at Amsterdam kind of thing) and a pilot who is well behind the plane might not notice. But that is not an "UA" in the normal sense, and a recovery from that isn't going to pull the wings off.
I agree one needs to be able to fly a plane manually, because automatic controls do fail. But the general way that cockpit automation is persistently tarred with a big brush shows a lack of understanding of how modern avionics work and how they are used in real flight.
If I recall you fly a well equipped TB20 on an FAA IR, to pontificate about
one needs to be able to fly a plane manually
having never done a JAA IR test in a green needled RBI equipped aircraft is a little rich and adversely commenting about RAF Navigators and then unfortunate crew at AMS does not improve your flying stature. You are a child of the magenta and suggest you realise your own limitations before commenting on others. Your unwillingness to consider that an AP can f*ck up your day shows an over reliance imho