Originally Posted by
Kratz
Hey folks,
our company (legacy, Europe) is kinda forcing us into landings with the a/thrust on with the argument that almost all other airlines land 99% with the a/thrust on.
As per our OM-B, using the a/thrust is recommended during the entire approach until landing. Although there is a provision that the a/thrust must be disconnected if it doesn't work well (due to gusts etc.)
Our fleet management interprets it in a way that when it's recommended, it has to be followed and you basically have no other choice. Moreover, they also claim that usage of manual thrust also produces higher amount of hard landings and unstable approaches.
What's the a/thrust policy in your company on the A320?
It is a very interesting discussion, as there are several valid reasons to go one way or the other for the Operators involved. Airbus Golden Rule Number 2 states: "Use the appropriate level of automation at all times". One could argue that a fully serviceable ATHR doing its job satisfactorily should therefore be kept ON.
Someone else could argue that it is appropriate to disconnect the ATHR if the approach procedures do not require its use for example. We can argue that decreasing the level of automation for the purpose of practicing will increase the workload, hence create additional threats, hence increase the risk level, hence exposing ourselves to more undesirable aircraft states.
We can also argue that not allowing pilots to regularly practice hand flying raw data when conditions permit will, over time, degrade the pilots' FPM skills, which in turn creates an additional threat, which in turn increases the risk level.
So who is right and who is wrong?
Well... everyone!
Operators must take actions to anticipate threats. They know that pilots fly 900 hours a year and wake up at 3 am for 5 days in a row. They know the effects of latent fatigue and associated risks. They know that on sector 4 of an 11 hours fdp day, when you are on short finals on a lovely weather day with no winds, you will be more likely to commit errors as you have lowered your guard and that's when Low energy warning will kick in because nobody noticed the speed decay in manual thrust.
On the other hand WE know (I have never been in flight ops management, but over 20 years in training management and that's a biiiig difference
) how quickly we loose our handling skills with lack of practice, be it with 200 or 20000 hours.
Over the last, say, 10-15 years the industry has noticed that pilots are generally much more proficient when coping with complex events that require a high degree of analysis and of problem solving and decision making with all automation working (thanks CRM!). But on the other hand pilots are less proficient and more "stressed out" by simple events that require full use of "stick and rudder", mainly due to lack of practice.
In the end we have to consider statistics: what are the chances of ending up flying an approach raw data ATHR OFF nowadays with the equipment we fly on? Slim.
How could we make everyone happy? Simple answer: give every pilot a free-non jeopardy 2 hours "handling" SIM session every month to practice and let the line operations be flown with high automation.
Who is paying for those SIMs? Are they required by the Authorities? Ok we understood each others...
