@Plantronic
I fly the E190 and strangely enough, my company has a dual take on flying manually and with or without the AT.
The books say (as you might allready know) that the use of automation is up to the pilot, while the use of autothrottle should be used during the entire flight, engaged prior takeoff and disengaged after landing or at PF's discretion
The way we, as a pilot body, use that sentence is that we can do whatever we want as long as both are OK with it.
So 99,9% of the takeoffs is done with AT (leaving room for that 0,1% of the takeoffs where the AT is forgotten) and the landings are a mixed bunch, AT wise.
I like to fly approaches manually with the AT on, more so in bad weather (just another safetynet to keep the speed roughly where I want it), but I also fly manually without the AT, to keep "current".
If I am tired or bored the AP+AT stay on untill a few 100 feet, but usually at least teh AP and when I feel ike it, the AT gets disengaged at or around the start of the approach or even way earlier if it is a nice day with little traffic around me. It basicly depends on the situation. But it is not uncommon for most pilots here to disengage the AP and sometimes the AT at 10.000ft (or during takeoff, to not engage it until 10.000ft or even higher)
The company has like a said a dual stance. They published that the use of the automation should be as high as possible, but the instructors preach the opposite, to let it depend on the situation (traffic, fatigue, CRM etc).
Last edited by the_stranger; 31st October 2012 at 11:07.