Originally Posted by saddest aviator
The sad truth is that the average FR fo with 3000 hrs right seat in the 73 in all honesty probably has only done 90 seconds hand flying for every 1 hour in the aeroplane
I think you'll find there's a lot of f/os (and captains) around the network who love to handfly the aircraft. Workload/airspace/weather/terrain/tiredness etc dependent, the A/P, A/T and regularly the F/Ds also will all be turned off for departure/descending out of FL245, as we know our hand flying skills are valuable and need to be maintained. This will be backed up with VNAV and an ILS if available as its both SOP and, in my opinion, sensible.
There are guys round the network that are scared of visuals, but I tend to find them in the minority.
On a side note, I was under the illusion you were allowd a 2.5nm level segment in a CDA and so, if flown accurately, an FR V/S NPA would count. May well be wrong though...