DJ77;
Does the trimwheel move when autotrim is active ?
Yes. Like the Boeings (although I can't recall the B767's arrangement), the trim wheel moves with trim changes in either manual or auto flight. It is in motion, quite frequently, with the small speed/pitch changes that normally occur.
Chris;
Thanks for that better photo of the A330 centre console, and the seat plan. When sitting in harness in the P3 seat, it is still possible to move your torso to the left or right – provided the inertia-reel shoulder harness is not locked. I think that should enable enough sideways head movement to see the left or right THS-position scale, but you may well know better! Do you have access to a sim?
In the seat-plan diagram do you agree that both P1 and P2 seats are in the full-aft position, provided for ease of entry and exit?
And is the P3 seat moveable sideways, while remaining attached to the rear bulkhead? If so, it looks further aft than on the A320, so viewing the sidestick across the lap of a pilot may not be possible. Is it capable of being locked in more than one position, like the A320?
Sitting in the center seat it is entirely possible to move sideways slightly and observe the trim position. Other considerations in reading the trim setting would be turbulence, the fact that the indication and pointer are on the top of the indicator and one is viewing from the rear, (there is no parallax however).
Yes, the forward seats appear to be in the full-aft position - the rails take each seat slightly outboard for more room - still, it is a bit of a step across the inboard part of the seat to get in.
The third (center) seat in the A330/A340 is on rails, well ahead of the rear bulkhead and cockpit entrance. The rails take the seat from the full forward position, which is about eight to ten inches behind the aft edge of the pedestal, rearwards about two feet behind the pedestal and thence to starboard about two feet, maybe a bit more. The fourth observers seat is well to starboard, behind, and to the right of the F/O position, and fixed to the bulkhead.
In my opinion one cannot adequately see or judge what movements on the stick are occurring. Most movements are tiny - a pitch-up such as this one might take a two, maybe three centimeter movement aft.
When I first checked out on the A320 I really liked the "Iron Cross" feature because it told me what the other stick was doing. On my first takeoff, the symbol disappeared at lift-off and I distinctly recall being surprised because I thought it was a natural and needed bit of information. Over the years I grew used to using many other cues as to what the other stick was doing and the Iron Cross would not indicate the tiny movements referenced above, but the airplane would. Communication between crew members on this type is vital where any possibility of confusion exists - it is a "cerebral" airplane in that sense, displacing physical cues with digital cues which must go through an interpretive process first. That was "the veil" that I felt when I first sat in the A320's cockpit. The "interpretive process" becomes natural and as swift as in a conventional cockpit after a while and one can get very good at it, all subconsciously of course.
I don't know the arrangement of controls in fighters, so let me ask those who flew them - do fbw fighter aircraft have a way of conveying to the pilot in the front or the back seat, what control inputs the other pilot is making or do both sticks move, (via mechanical connection, etc)? Are there back-driven autothrottles in any types - how is thrust control arranged? Is it standard to display AoA in every fighter?