I'm not sure where all this has come from, I've flown out of many bases in RYR and have never had a captain tell me not to hand fly. In my current base, if it's a semi decent day out of a quiet airport we often hand fly the sids on raw data (and no I'm not based in CRL!)
Back on topic, if JD leaves will it be a good thing for all concerned or a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire?