However, I also had the experience to know when A/P was not the best option – the autopilot does not know the meaning of NOW; it is great on a coupled approach, but my fear is that the average airline pilot these days is a servant of automation:
Well said FA, sometimes disconnecting the A/P is the appropriate level of automation. Watching someone try to recover an approach using the A/P, from being left too high or not getting it slower earlier is excruciating. When you tell them to disconnect and handfly its like you have told them they have to walk through the terminal naked!