Mxsmanic wrote:
In real life, do most pilots equipped with autopilots use them to fly
holds (i.e., by using the HDG function of the autopilot, and possibly
altitude holds or autothrottle if available), or do they fly the plane
by hand through the holds?

Holds are the perfect time for the autopilot. Usually, I do them in
HDG mode, but the GNS480 will steer the autopilot around the hold
in GPSS mode (either as a part of a charted approach, or you can
just throw a hold in at any waypoint)


When you are tested on your ability to fly holds, do you have to fly
them by hand, or can you use the autopilot as above?

The examiner expects you to use the autopilot when appropriate. Of
course, they can (and will) make you hand fly any part of the test
that they need to evaluate fully.


Note that I'm not talking about fully automated systems that will fly
the entire hold pattern automatically, I'm talking about just using
heading and altitude controls in the autopilot to simplify the task of
turning and rolling out, turning and rolling out, over and over.


It's not a feature of the autopilot in my plane. It's the GPS.
The autopilot just does what the GPS tells it.