aa73, in answer to your question, 'autothrust' is the 21st century term for automatic control of the motive power of modern jet transports. I did have a 'throttle' on my motorbike, though.
When I flew Boeing 747s, I had several 'autothrottle' back-drive malfunctions, including uncommanded asymmetric thrust reduction on climb-out, caused by this unnecessary complication that makes certain pilots feel like they are still in the 1960's, giving them moving 'throttle' levers to show them ...erm... the 'throttle' levers have moved.
I chose to come off the Boeing and fly Airbus 'techno crap', and I have flown 3 different Airbus widebodies without so much as a hiccup in this area, or any major problem in any area for that matter, for 16 years. And the accountants love them.
What was it like flying the DC-6?
Last edited by Captain Dart; 1st May 2011 at 08:19.