Originally Posted by
Uplinker
For what it's worth, I didn't fly the '73 first; I flew a series of turbo-props for my first years of commercial airline flying, followed by the BAe146, none of which had auto-thrust. I then changed airline and went onto the A320 - my first auto-thrust aircraft.
Similar to me except after the BAe146 I flew the RJ100 which does have autothrust, a Boeing style implementation that moves the thrust levers. I have no problem with the A320 and knowing what the thrust is doing. I can hear and feel what's happening the majority of the time. I monitor the PFD for speed and if I see a trend I don't like I will glance at the engine display to see if the autothrust is doing something about it. I will generally see the thrust command (spider web) in the right place which makes me happy again. The only thing I miss about moving thrust levers is the ability to manually over-ride the autothrust just by holding the levers against the clutch. On the Airbus you can briefly move the thrust levers forwards of the climb detent for a burst of manual thrust but it's not as subtle and controllable as being able to just hold the levers where you want them. That said, if the autothrust isn't doing what you want then it should probably be disconnected rather than over-ridden.