A330 Auto Thrust
Aah - this old chestnut. Personally, and in accordance with my company's recommendations, I use auto thrust 80-90% of the time. It works pretty well but there are occasions where manual thrust is appropriate to give you the speedy thrust control that you,as a pilot, may require from time to time. It's also a nice idea to practice it once in a while. There are those out there who puff up their chests and declare, in a manly sort of way, that they always use manual thrust. Their choice. It really doesn't bother me.
An extra few knots on VApp on those 'in between' days can work wonders on the 330. I normally don't do it on the 340. The 340 seems to be more speed stable than the 330 in my opinion.
As for the comment above, for a manual landing, the thrust will stay in speed mode until you physically retard the thrust lever(so you still effectively have control over the thrust, but I may have misinterpreted the intent of the comment). Idle thrust will only be commanded during an autoland without you retarding the thrust lever.
Last edited by rick.shaw; 7th May 2013 at 03:30.