Originally Posted by
followingdreams
I wouldnt sweat the declaring emergency. Ive never seen any one criticized when delaring and emergency. You dont know what caused the AP to fail and you are at a critical phase of flight. Take the vectors and regroup. If you really want to move your career ahead, look at FSI, CAE, or Simcom as either right seater or instructor. That will build you time, get you a type rating and you can learn an airplane at a more reasonable pace.
An autopilot kicking off is worthy of declaring an emergency? That's a bit of a stretch. Adding that emergency call on top of his other issues wouldn't be a sign of great S.A.