Originally Posted by
bonesbrigade
That's not the normal call at all.
That is the minimum engagement height.
In the thousands of hours I have here I'd say that maybe 20 percent of the time it is called for right at 600.
Just fly the airplane to 10,000 (or above) and stay fresh. Even if those SIDs have a lot of turns it's better for your proficiency. The only time I really turn on the AP early is if there are a lot of turns and it's extremely bumpy...at that point the AP is giving the passengers a better ride than I am.
Even so "early" AP use for me is sometime past flap retraction. That 600 feet (if we are talking Bombardier) is min use, as has been stated earlier in this discussion, but is helpful during a single engine problem on TO.