Originally Posted by
vilas
What are the occassions when gear is lowered first or raised risking speed excursions?
I've done this on numerous occasions at a certain airport where there is no coordination between center and approach. Busy airport (read freight with sudden peak times at night), you expect to be n° 5 or 6 center, 250kts already... but center suddenly gives you direct 10 miles final and makes you n°1. Below 10000ft, speedbrakes don't cut it, out comes the gear. Then approach decides otherwise again as it's not working, and you are number 5 again...
On your question of Airbus HDG. I refrain from any technical answer. But from a psychological point of view, if the flying pilot on AP likes to preset the heading while the readback is done as a mental backup, I don't see any problem as the SOP is correctly handled. It's just that the heading bug is already preset. But then again, I don't know any technical background that would post a limitation on this behaviour. Because that is what you seem to imply, the SOP is related to a limitation of the autoflight system somehow.