Originally Posted by
neboskreb
Indeed, FDs are just an aid. What I found about FDs is that in a crew where SOPs and CRM are proper - the need for Flight Directors is little.
Such need arises when one crew member is doing something that the other didn't expect, and the FDs is the aid to bring them back in sync. Most of the time, the "intervening" crew member would be the Captain, and the "lagging" crew member would be the cadet, so the Captain would tell him "follow the flight directors!". Should they've followed their PF/PM roles properly, the Captain would say "adjust speed" rather than adjusting the knob himself.
Unfortunately, many Captains are feeling free to "correct" their peer by intervention, which isn't a good practice (unless he does some hazardous ****, of course). Letting him do his job as good as he can would be more productive, reducing the need for flight directors. Flight directors is not a workaround for poorly trained crew but for poor CRM - in my humble opinion.
This thread is seven years old so probably not much use in digging it up again... Although I’ll bite.
A word of warning to anyone reading this in 2019:
Please disregard this advice and listen to your instructors. If you’ve got the FDs up and flying manually, in the airbus, you should follow them. If the aircraft is in THR IDLE and you’re heaving it round the base turn visually, you’ll soon end up in at best, a meeting with the base captain and at worst, on the front page of the paper. If the FDs are on and A/THR engaged, not following them ‘as they’re suggestions’ is a dangerous situation to be in. Why do you think they ask you to turn the FDs off during a TCAS RA? To ensure the auto thrust is in speed mode. On an ILS (or fully managed approach to touchdown) you are given a bit of slack with the FDs as you should have ensured speed mode is active as part of your landing checklist, but giving this as general advice is ill considered.
Perhaps read the Air France Tel Aviv A320 report and then reconsider whether your advice, that was supposedly directed to a 400hr FO, was actually good general advice, or simply reveals your under confidence and lack of knowledge of the A320 flight path automation.