Flying through the Flight Director-usually there is a better way...
I have been on the NG for only 2 years now (after 12 years on the previous type). Most of the time when I thought the “jet screwed up” it was in fact my error: programming error, incomplete/inaccurate system knowledge and other such variations of getting it wrong. As a policy I would not recommend you “ignore Flight Directors” (also called flying through the flight directors). Reminder: I don’t set “policy” for you or your company-or anybody else for that matter. I have much confidence in the NG; if the flight director isn’t providing the guidance I want I expect the error to rest with me. “Something isn’t right” feeling needs to be solved to the pilot’s satisfaction rather than the automation ignored (outside of well understood scenarios such as being momentarily above V2+15 during takeoff).
If your flight director is not giving you what you want you have at least two options. First of all, instead of ignoring your flight directors, I would recommend simply turning them off and fly the airplane without them. After all how many years did you spend driving around in multi-engine aircraft IFR without a flight director or autopilot? Some pilots may not have this experience to fall back on and may look at a flight director failure as an emergency. It shouldn’t be but that is a different discussion.
Your second option is to figure out how to get the flight director to give you the guidance you want. Automation is there to help you; if it isn’t helping turn it off, have your flying partner set you up for success.
I hope you are enjoying your time on the NG, and that your upgrade opportunity comes sooner rather than later.