Totally agree with captain stable! Practising hand flying is done at times of low workload and good weather conditions. Also, how hard can it be to hand fly a modern passenger transport... Sounds like some are afraid to suddenly suffer some sort of instant amnesia the moment they engage the AP? WIthout automation there wouldn't be enough room in the skies for the present traffick density, and overreliance on automation is usually some poor sod that didn't take the time to read the manual - and practice doing his job. Wasn't too long ago some real hands-on fellas collided mid-air because they didn't trust the automation.