Well those USAF pilots who managed to turn a perfectly serviceable C-12 in the cruise at 12000ft into a smoking hole in the ground in Afghanistan about 2009 weren't too hot on automation or hand-flying either. In the space of three minutes they managed to:
1. Select the wrong autopilot mode for climb (VS instead of FLC)
2. Failed to monitor decreasing airspeed and increasing AOA.
3. Failed to apply correct recovery when stall warning sounded (they kept autopilot connected and tried to recover using the autopilot)
4. Failed to apply correct recovery technique when aircraft flicked into a spin (they pulled back on the stick).
The USAF report is available online - you can google for it as well as I can if you are interested to read the full report.