Just putting this out there.....as far as I know its not done for a good reason just I don't know what that is....
On the actual throttle levers is there any indication (coloured leds for example) to show the status of the throttles? Auto/manual/engine failure etc?
Just seems to me that its a bit like driving a car & scanning gauges.....each gauge should have a green light around the whole gauge to indicate the value it is showing is within normal limits, orange if just out & red if seriously out.
On approach or if in an emergency, you just need to do a quick scan for colours, then another for actual values...but as soon as a gauge indicates an issue with a needle pointer, the orange/red surrounding light would point you straight to it...Ah Hello LOOK AT ME!
With the airspeed, the aircraft would know what is normal for approach & show green, if it wasn't normal it would show orange & red if it was close enough to stall to warrant it....
I just think scanning gauges & looking at the physical position of throttle levers is going to continue to be an issue.....
the gauge reads 20 for example, you go ok its ok.....but how often have you done a double take in real life & said, hang on that should be 30 - how did I miss that?
In this case the aircraft should be indicating loudly & strongly that the approach is not normal, something that is active on the last 1000 landings is now turned off that should have sent alarms bells...In addition even if the pilot turns it off, somehow you need to confirm he knows it's off....."Are you sure Y/N?" to avoid accidentally or inadvertently turning something off (or on...)
As I see it these planes are smart enough to fly themselves but they aren't real good at keeping the pilots informed what they are doing.......
Would it be a problem for an automated voice to say
"INFORMATION: Auto throttle disconnected because xxxx" where xxxx is the reason for the disconnection.....The pilot would know instantly its turned off & why the plane thought it needed to turn it off.....
Both bits of information I would have thought very useful for the pilot & they would be delivered in the quickest & most sussinked manner.
Far quicker than reading a message on a screen....
My GPS can tell me I'm speeding, but a plane can't?
What am I missing?
Cheers