In a entry entitled Your friend George, John Ewing of Aviation Mentor has posted a detailed article examining some of the common mistakes pilots make when using the autopilot, how to avoid these mistakes and when to best make use of the autopilot.
Moreover, John points out that use of the autopilot is not “cheating,” it just “another type of flying.” In fact, he lists a number of high workload phases of flight where a pilot using the autopilot is the equivalent of a good manager who delegates and concludes by saying that being “proficient in autopilot management isn’t cheating, it’s often the smart thing to do.”
For any pilot who flies a plane with an autopilot feature, John Ewing’s post is a must read.