On Nov 8, 2:48 pm, Denny wrote:
If you are making routine instrument approaches, sitting there
watching the magic box move the little airplane on the screen and
drive the autopilot and your prime job in life is to control the
throttle as you whistle and tap in time to the music, you are not
current (in reality) and will be in a load of crap the day the
autopilot goes off line in real crud...

Far better you accept the vectors for every other flight and hand fly
the airplane on the steam gauges as you drip sweat in time to the
flopping of the indicator needles... Then someday when it actually
becomes life or death you will be ready...

denny

I am quite current, thank you, and often hand fly approaches for
precisely that reason. Knowing the ins and outs of the autopilot and
its capabilities is an important part of flying. A pilot needs to be
able to do both. They are not mutually exclusive. When I use the
autopilot, I want to use it to its fullest capability. With the new
Garmin 500W, that means a GPS approach. It is proving to be smoother
and more precise than an ILS.