This is the kind of recurring comment
I wonder why fly in manual seems to be a problem for pilots who always invoke some of their company regulations
In fact is that these regulations have the force of law ?
Is there a law that prohibits pilots fly manually ?
Is that pilot can legally be put out of work for this action?
Unfortunately, some of the large but unenlightened airlines do hold to a punitive view of what pilots should do and should not. I recall a recent post in the Rumors section where a Captain was quite certain that he would receive an invitation to "tea and dates" with the chief pilot should he choose to practice his manual flying skills outside the narrowly constrained takeoff and landing portions of the flight. Apparently the statisticians at his airline had built some sort of case that to do so increased the risks.
To my mind, this is the short term risk avoidance getting out of balance with the long term consequences of such a strategy. Of course, if they bring in highly trained crew continually into their operation and flush them out of the system after ~4 years or so, then the consequences of their short sightedness could well fall to someone else.
