Judah writes:

If flying by hand is difficult without wind or turbulence, you are either not
a very good pilot, or you don't have a very good simulator.

It's the former, and I think it is frustrating _because_ the
simulation is good. I do think it might be easier in some respects in
a real aircraft, since movements of the aircraft would remind you when
to look at which instruments, and you have better visibility out the
window and control pressures, etc. However, I think the overwhelming
reason in my case is lack of experience. Even on a short flight, it
gets tiring trying to hold a heading and altitude, but I'm getting
better.

Autopilot
certainly makes life easier, but you should be able to keep the plane flying
on course and altitude without it.

Within what limits? I fly to a heading and then 30 seconds later when
I check it again I've drifted two degrees or so and have to move it
back. Altitude is a much bigger problem, with a constant
roller-coaster ride through as much as 150 feet or so for quite a
while. By the time I wrestle it onto a steady altitude, I'm being
told to climb or descend again.

As an example, I recently flew 3 hours from South Carolina to NY without an
AutoPilot (it was temporarily out of service), and it really wasn't that
difficult or tiring. The wind was mild, and proper attention to the trim and
the heading was really all that was required.

I hope so.

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