I note that some States permit logging of instrument flight time while the aircraft is on autopilot. Why is this so? The original history of logging of instrument flying time was "in cloud" or simulated instrument flight time (under the hood) - the proviso being it all had to be manual flight on instruments and by default became reasonably reliable as a measure of a pilots instrument flying skill. In other words if he had survived a couple of hundred hours hand flying in IMC he must be fairly safe.
That all was changed when some States (following ICAO?) decided that pilots could also log instrument flight time (IMC) while the automatic pilot was doing all the flying. Clearly there was no personal instrument flying skills needed for that. So the whole historical point of logging instrument flight time which in turn was used as a measure of a pilots hand flying experience in cloud, became nullified. And thus it is to this day. It is also not possible to audit instrument flight time because it relies totally on the honesty of the pilot who claims the instrument hours in his log book. The only time an audit is proof positive is during dual instruction, where the instructor can vouch for and certify the fact in the pilots log book. That happens during instrument flying training for initial issue of the candidate's instrument rating.
After that, the system relies completely on the integrity of the pilot who logs instrument flight time in his log book. Not all pilots log honest I/F hours.
IFR logged time is a different animal altogether but is often logged to satisfy some operator's recruiting requirements. It is not an indication of a pilots instrument flying hand flying skills.
IMHO, once a new pilot leaves his flying school audited instrument rating training and has passed his initial instrument rating test, there should be no legal requirement to further log any instrument time - either hand flying or on autopilot. The reason for this is that serves no purpose since future claimed instrument flying hours in the pilots log book cannot be audited - thus leaving it wide open to fraudulent practices. We are talking about an ideal situation, but of course individual State legislative rules differ leaving the system wide open to wholesale forgery of claimed instrument flight time in order to satisfy State rules. And that happens all the time.
