Different ways to skin a cat, as long as the outcome is not in doubt, keeping the automatics in if you are quick with your recognition and button pushing definitely keeps it tidy, especially at high weights. However if this crew was not familiar/trained on the gotchas of early capture and were subsequently startled by it I doubt they’d be ready on the Alt hold switch doubletap. Going back to the general theme of appropriate levels of automation I would always cringe at my “old shop” reading the weekly safety reports where crews were skiddish turning off the automation (for fear of punishment) leading to unforgivable cascading snafus. Whenever both pilots are saying “what’s it doing?” (Regardless of if that stems from lack of knowledge or a true malfunction) It’s time to turn off some levels automation without fear of punitive action.... I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, and we shall see if any of this has any bearing on this particular event.
Last edited by VThokie2; 23rd Nov 2020 at 20:12.