Hmmm... re the Thrust levers on the AB.
From what I read here, it really seems that they're "overloaded" (no negative connotation with that at this time) with three functions?
#1 condition levers (flight phase, the detents for TOGA, CLB, IDLE etc), used to select a defined phase of flight. A means of telling the airplane where you are.
#2 max thrust setting (donut mode), when set between CLB and IDLE detents with autothrottle active
#3 thrust setting (?) traditional direct thrust setting.
You'll be in a much better situation to explain to me which of the above functions is active under what conditions.
However, if conditions change and thus the T/L mode changes, the position of the T/L gets a whole new meaning to the A/T system or the FADECs.
As far as I know (and I've had very very limited time in a 757 sim), the levers on a Boeing move with the
actual thrust setting, so in the case of an A/T disconnect, the levers are in exactly the place that commands as much thrust in manual as the A/T has last commanded.
In the AB case, the T/L might be (and as I have said times before, that's just an assumption in this case,
afaik, we do not have any more information than Airbus' short message) somewhere between the IDLE and the CLB detent and when the T/L mode switches from full A/T to one of the other modes, the commanded thrust setting will change without pilot intervention, just by the fact that the internal logic has changed states.
I might still have a lot of reading to do on why it's been done that way, but to me and from a human interface point of view, this does not look like the best design to keep the pilot in the loop.
pj