D105,
I find the argumentation for handflying only when "in good weather conditions" or at "the appropriate, calm airport" strange.
Shouldn't we all not just be able to do it everywhere all the time, period?
Piona
I've flown with a multitude of FO's/Capt's who want to handfly but prefer to wait until autoflight has captured the LOC/GS, AT has set the power in speed mode, and are inside the outer marker.
I completely agree. Somebody who finds hand flying uncomfortable in anything other than so called 'ideal' conditions probably is not prepared to takeover from the A/P at a moments notice. A rare example a while back on a VNAV VOR approach in IMC. The aircraft bizarrely started to climb at the FAF, recovery by changing the AP mode would possibly have left us too high to remain stable so I decided to disconnect and correct accordingly, flying the remainder of the approach manually.
Reducing the level of automation (V/S mode for example) would also be a valid response too, but a go-around probably the most likely result in my view due to then speed of response to AP inputs.