Stilton, the biggest advantages are not to do with flight ops directly, but engineering and cost. It's the reduction in mechanical stuff (weight, complexity, failure mode analysis/risks etc) that come from not having to create a back-driving system for a system (FADEC) that doesn't otherwise actually need it. And the comments from guys who were never accustomed to back-driven ATS levers shows that in that sense they were right - it's not essential. It's just another set of solutions. It just wasn't thought of first.