Originally Posted by
sonicbum
The important bit in a crosswind landing is the flare-decrab-touchdown combination where there are usually issues, almost exclusively due to lack of practice of high crosswind landings................... I do not really see any major benefit of handflying the approach but just an increase in workload..
On your first point I would say the approach is just as important on those bad weather days, and on your second point I DO see the benefit of handflying the approach. Those who leave the A/P in until 1nm from touch-down on a turbulent, crosswind approach, often get a nasty surprise when they finally take the A/P out. They suddenly realise what a challenging day it is that the A/P has been coping with, but have left themselves no time to get their responses up to speed and firmly into the groove of turbulent crosswind flying, so their flare, decrab and "landing" are usually poor in my experience of sitting next to them.
Much better to take the A/P out at 7-10 nm, so you have plenty of time to get into the groove of the conditions and for your motor responses to rev up. By the time you get to the flare and decrab, it is all nicely under control, (or you have gone around!).
NB, I am referring to A320 family, in which I usually leave the A/THR in, since it (and GS mini) do an excellent job on all but the most awful days, and I concentrate on keeping the plane the right way up and flaring and decrabbing correctly. In A330 one sometimes has to manually control the thrust as well.