Hi guys, I read with interest the discussion and felt like to add my 2 cents to that. I quite don't remember what it used to be like on A 321, but on A 330 with AP on its seems to be stable, once you take the AP off and don't do any input, i have the impression that the A/C tends to pitch up. Thats the moment, I think, the problem starts cause the guys start to chase the director, which cause on the other hand the auto thrust to go the opposite way and the problem only aggravates. I try to keep constant pitch 2,5 Flaps Full for the pedants and see where it takes me initially adjusting than with small inputs so the inertia of the aircraft doesn't play a bad game with me. That's of course only in stable conditions. For the same reason mentioned above its better to take it off while in gusts. However I think it doesn't make any difference whether with or without auto thrust the pilot should be able to fly it correctly.
Cheers.
