Originally Posted by
Uplinker
and if the speed decays or increases more than a little; I just flick my eyes across to confirm that the auto-thrust is commanding the engines correctly.
The thrust
command, is in the moving thrust levers without need for your eyes. The thrust
result, is reflected in the airspeed and vertical speed, both on the PFD.
Though yes the thrust indication should probably still be in the scan. Yeah I'm being a bit pedantic here, and cheeky on purpose. And while I agree that the N1 should still be in the scan, I'm in favor of moving levers (and moving stick/yoke). I say this as someone not having experience with any authothrottle system or FBW, but on the general principle that the fewer disconnections in the plane-pilot interface, the better. I do remember when I changed from rudder pedals that move with yaw damper action, to pedals that don't. And how annoying that was for such a long time.
I think the best engine feedback system (in the absence of engines loud enough to hear) would be if the computers played a music tone with pitch proportional to the N1. Now, your eyes are not required, and can focus on everything going on the PFD and out the window, without having to look over 45 degree to the side. Which brings me to another regular complaint of mine, that they don't display the engine gauges on the PFD where they can stay in constant awareness with much less workload. A little less unorthodox solution, than the music tone.
The '73 quite crude, and having to have PM's eyes inside the cockpit setting the thrust during the start of the take-off roll and a go-around struck me as very unsatisfactory and safety compromising.
On the Airbus, the PM doesn't need to verify the thrust indication on the gauges? I thought your previous argument was based on the necessity to be doing just that.