Vel Paar's comment :
The company and the regulatory authorities take a dim view of anyone wanting to " improvise " to hone their basic manual flying skills!
bubbers44 :
VP, sorry you work for that company. If you don't use your initiative to hone your flying skills and go along with company logic you will lose your flying skills gradually. Hopefully you don't just settle into this job and accept it as the wave of the future. You can probably just do it anyway or if the company is a stickler for no handflying find a safer job.
Wow! bubbers, your grandpa must be the CEO of your airline! As far as I know, most air carriers want their pilots to utilise all the automation available to ensure smooth, economical and safe operations. I have unfortunate colleagues called up for tea and bickies when the AIMS/FOQA indicated some minor excursions when they flew manually without FDs.
A few indulgent chief pilots may just wave off such " no SOP " ops but they are getting fewer and fewer.