I never turn the FD off. Hand fly every departure and most arrivals below 10,000'. At some point hand flying at higher altitudes is not teaching an experienced pilot anything. New guys? Sure, learn the difference in pitch sensitivity as altitude and mach increase. Old timers? Waste of time and effort.
"Never turn the FD off" ? "Hand fly every departure and most arrivals below 10,000." Horses for courses. Enthusiastic pilots will normally jump at the opportunity to switch of the FD and hand fly where possible. Keeps the instrument scan skills honed. On the other hand it could be argued a complete waste of time hand flying while glueing your concentration on a FD. Isn't this what the original post was all about?
As far as practicing hand flying at high altitudes, if the two French first officers that crashed the A330 into the South Atlantic has ever practiced hand flying at high altitude either in real life or in the simulator, it is probable 200 plus people would be alive today. if a pilot cannot confidently hand fly straight and level at high altitude because it might upset the passengers coffee then what an indictment on the company training system. Old timers waste of time and effort? Don't you believe it. Mostly they are too lazy and know they lack the confidence, finesse and handling skills needed to fly smoothly and accurately at high altitude.
But these characters would never ever admit it but are quick to denigrate those pilots who have the enthusiasm, ability and determination to be on top of their flying.
To clarify. No one is demanding that a pilot should fly for hours by hand with or without the other automatic features such as FD in place. But if people are serious about rectifying what the FAA have finally said after all these years and numerous LOC crashes, that one way to prevent automation addiction (affects maybe 85 percent of glass cockpit crews), then a spot of regular manual flying is the way to fix the problem. 5-10 minutes out of every hour in high level cruise hand flying is better than nothing at all assuming of course the rules permit (RVSM etc).