Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
I am sure that things get a little more fun as the captain. You might get away with having the AP off a bit more. In addition a seasoned FO who is on friendly terms with the captain might also get away with some additional hands on flying, but nothing will erase the fact that at best it is all straight and level flying with a few shallow banked turns thrown in on VFR days. Some companies limit hands on flying severely.
Most modern jets are grounded if the AP is inop. You guys can attempt to glamorise it as much as you wish but you all know that I am right. Most of the time and especially when the chips are down the AP is on, you have very little control over things and the manual is always right. I doesn't take a Chuck Yeager to make it as an airline pilot. In fact the opposite is necessary.
SkyHigh
Even back to my probation days I never had to ask for permission to
not use the autopilot. If I wanted to hand fly I would just have to simply not engage the autopilot. No
getting away with anything. I still hand fly up to atleast an intermediate level off, and usually higher before letting Otto take over. It gets turned off on descent too. Doesn't matter if it is VFR or IFR. I can leave it off the whole trip if I'm not too lazy (but usually am). Most of the guys I fly with operate the same way.
You are correct that most airline flying is straight and level with some shallow banked turns, but then again, all instrument flying is mostly just straight and level with some shallow banked turns, no matter what or who you are flying for. It just so happens 121 flying is always instrument flying because you are always on an insrument cross country, even ig it is VFR.
I'm sure that I am not the only one who can hand fly until thier heart's content. You must have had some really bad captains at your old flying job if you werent even allowed to keep your flying skills current. I encourage everyone to handfly as much as possible because if the box breaks its up to you. The sharper you skills the better off you are.