I remember well flying the F27 with scare uk (air uk) in 1986/87. The first thing the company did when acquiring an aircraft was sell the autopilot and l recall one arrived from Ansett complete with the autopilot which they left in place. Not sure if anyone knew how to use the thing. A regular run was a 6/7 sector day to the channel islands (jersey, Guernsey) and with no A/P , handflying the thing in the hold above jersey for an hour waiting for the murk to lift soon lost its appeal.