"If it's different and new, it can't be good". I'm surprised to find quite a few pilots who, instead of embracing progress, try to hold on to the old ways of doing things. Aren't we usually proud of how 'cutting edge' we all are ??
I wonder if the starships we'll have in 300 years will still have moving throttles and a wheel??
Yes, I 'grew up' with lots of dials and no automation, but I still think it was fairly stupid to install a conventional control column into the 777. Yes, it makes you feel you can still 'man-handle' the plane, if for a moment, you forget about the fact that you still just provide input into the computer, no different than the Airbus, except that you also have some fairly artificial trim system, to make you feel better
The same with auto-throttles and all other new systems:
Just because, when they developed them in the 'olden days', the throttles moved, doesn't mean that this must be the status quo for generations to come. Those designs basically just attached cables and pulleys and electric motors to the existing throttle systems. Throttles move, either manually or by the system.
People got used to this (I can only imagine how much pilots hated those new auto throttle systems back then, complaining they would pull them out of the loop completley !!
)
Airbus and most newer airplanes have FADEC controlled engines, and why install heavy and more complicated systems to just have the levers move, when you can quickly readjust and interpret engine parameters directly from the gages ?? I wonder how much extra weight the 777 control column-shaped 'joy-stick' adds.
As the other folks pointed out: it makes no difference, it takes you all but a few minutes to learn what the engines are doing by looking at the gages on the Airbus and that's it.
That's about the same amount of time it takes you to get comfortable with the side stick!
As soon as you have flown a few hours on the Bus, all those things become a total non-issue, so that you can now devote all your time trying to figure out how to reset that darn toilet flush control computer
It's just the fear of the new and different