I believe that anyone (especially SLF), who has not been at the pointy end and experienced the disorientation of the competing demands of the senses in marginal visual conditions, especially when combined with fatigue (and who knows what other variables at any particular moment), and still espouses the merits of hand-flying, has no real concept of the incredible range of variables that can be encountered, not all of which can ever be covered in even the most exhaustive pilot training.
I remember one of the great lessons in disorientation that I read years ago. The pilot telling the story was flying formation with another Tiger Moth in late afternoon haze with little or no reference horizon, just the orb of the sun off to one side. As he flew along in straight and level flight he was amazed to see the other Tiger Moth perform a slow and gentle barrel roll around his aircraft and then resume level flight as if nothing had happened.
After landing he raised the topic of the strange maneuver with the other pilot who told him in no uncertain terms that it was in fact he who had rolled around the other aircraft. Both pilots were adamant they had continued flying straight and level and it was the other aircraft that had performed the unexpected maneuver.