Just a basic question I have about the malfunctioning altimeter and auto-throttle: Can the captain not have simply DISEGAGED JUST THE AUTO-THROTTLE and still kept the horizontal LNAV engaged (with autopilot still on, of course)? This would have simply returned control of thrust to the captain on full manual and still kept the lateral navigation active so the plane remained properly aligned with the centre of the runway. Since the visibility was very poor, this would have been an advantage for the crew so they did not lose sight of the runway centre but still had to control the thrust and vertical descent rate.
Is this possible at the final approach before landing? I mean, will the ILS signal still guide the plane properly to the centre of the runway laterally if VNAV is disengaged?
Just curious...
John