Maybe it's the long legs I fly (100 miles is a short one and 400+ is more common) that makes me value the AP - just spend my time keeping clear of the clouds.
So down here - take off, AP's on at about 1,500ft, point airplane at other island, set alt hold at cruise height, switch tanks every half hour, keep away from clouds, switch off AP's when island spotted and land.
The clouds here tend to have bottoms at around 3,000ft and top out around 5,000 - some have CN columns growing out of them - I do keep away from those by several miles - tend to go over clouds as it is less bumpy (i.e not bumpy at all).
I am not saying one should not hand fly the airplanes, just that getting help from the AP when one gets into clouds makes sense - so long as the kit is properly maintained, one knows how to use it and one doesn't solely rely on it.
Still not liking them clouds
