Yes I think most of us actually understand that in RVSM it is the altitude hold function that is the requirement.
I agree with many of the experienced instructors comments, but there are a few that I disagree with.
1. Hand flying to 10K does nothing IMHO, I have crew members doing this all the time, it's funny, they simply do not engage the A/P and follow the FD's up to 10K and think they've accomplished something, when in fact I could go in the back and get any 10 year old kid on board to do the same thing, holding the aircraft symbol on the big cross takes no talent.
2. Yes I do believe that hand flying can overload a crew in some of the busier terminal areas, much different than when I was flying full procedures from an IAF, it's simply too busy in many areas with very complicated STAR's.
3. Now we then move to sim world where the A/P is - often U/S with the multiple emergency scenarios.
4. Now many of my colleagues have less than 300 hours flying a real airplane, then they go straight into the computer, so how can you lose flying skills they never learned in the first place?