Originally Posted by
Fursty Ferret
The report seems to overlook the fact that TOGA buttons are a stupid design in the first place, especially with FADEC. Regardless of your opinion of Airbus non-moving thrust levers, this is an aspect they got absolutely spot on.
Go-around = firewall the thrust levers. None of this messing around with buttons..................
Without wishing to turn this into Airbus vs Boeing, the Boeing auto-thrust seems a peculiar beast and I agree with Fursty on this.
In manually flown Airbus FBW G/A; you push the thrust levers fully forward - click, click - with your inboard hand. Very little effort is required and you will not over-thrust the engines. Pull gently back on the joystick, needing only the strength in your outboard wrist, to set +15° pitch. You could then let go with both hands and the aircraft would stay in the attitude it was put.
I only know the 737: the yoke requires arm muscles to pull it back - or to push it to counter the power/pitch couple. To guide in pitch accurately, a pilot might want to use both hands on the yoke to give finer control, and to trim in pitch or to add strength if the aircraft is initially mistrimmed. So s/he will want to take their inboard hand off the thrust levers as soon as possible and therefore has to rely on the TOGA switches and PM to set thrust. This takes away their haptic feedback of where the thrust levers are, at a time when their attention will be focussed on the PFD to check pitch and ROC.
Not having flown it; Would a 777 pilot want to put both hands on the yoke as soon as possible?
Is there a power/pitch couple on a 777 when manually flown?
Does 777 have auto pitch trim when in manual?
Does the 777 yoke stay where you put it if released, or would it return to trimmed attitude?
A general point about automation; Yes, we could all fly around fully manually all the time. Then we would no doubt all be able to physically control the aircraft very well, despite their various foibles. But it is knackering, so FTLs and flying during the WOCL would have to change. RVSM, LVP and RNAV approaches would not be possible and Long-haul would need several crews on each aircraft.
So we need automation, and this is not a weakness - no more than driving a car with an auto gearbox and cruise control/speed limiter. On the contrary; it frees pilots to be more vigilant about the overall flight. The challenge is that automatics need to be designed to work properly and intuitively with human beings. Airbus FBW comes very close to this, I don't know about Boeings or other types?
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