411A
In the type of aircraft you flew that might have been the case. However, in modern aircraft the use of autothrottle is possible and safe, you can even do an autoland engine out!! Dang cant you pilots fly your aircraft you will no doubt reply, however if it is approved and available at the airport you are going to land at, you can do an autoland if you want. Hey that might mean I can actually monitor and manage the emergency better.
As for the moving of the dead thrust lever, if your type allows it then fine. When I fly the twin in the sim I don't as it is easy to manage the one thrust lever. When I fly the quad then if it is an outboard then again no real drama. However, when it is 2 or 3 it can be tricky when you are using manual thrust on approach and the dead lever is getting in the way of you moving the other three on approach in gusty conditions. In case you don't understand the thrust levers are close to idle, then it is easier to pick up all four. (Just did it a few weeks ago on my regulatory check - no comment from the checker as it is approved) You might have to do it anyway once you have landed to select reverse, cocking the interlocks. If your short sharp comments are how you used to brief / debrief your "lambs" in the simulator NO wonder they screwed up. You sometimes have to teach!!!
Perhaps if this poor USAF Colonel, that you seem to hate so much, the USAF not him personally,had collected all four from idle then he would have had the three remaining engines for the approach. Perhaps it is the dinosaur teaching of only using the working engines that helped cause the crash. Remember the swiss cheese model, it is a normally a COMBINATION of factors that cause an accident.
Now tell me do you zero the rudder trim on approach engine out or not?
