Vilas,
What I am trying to say is practice manual by all means but whenever you are being pushed to limit by the environment let this time be, practice another time.
I agree with you that one has to use the level of automation intelligently. One example: Let's say the atis announces a 5 knts wind, SCT at 200 ft, OVc at 400 ft and visibility 1500 m. In that case I will be glad to keep all the stuff on and simply disconnect the A/P when visual at the minima.
But when the atis announces Bkn 1000', wind 30° off rwy axis at 35 kts, gusts to 45 knots and visibility 5000 m, you can be sure I'll be using manual thrust for landing (+A/P off, F/D on)! The reason for that is not because I think it's cool and fun to do so, but because I'm convinced I handle the thrust settings better and more intelligently then the computer in such conditions. (I will be using managed Vapp though) And that is not because I think I'm better or have a larger ego then the average captain. All the pilots in my company, except perhaps for a few rookie F/O's, will agree with me and do the same. The reason that we think that we can do better then the a/thr system is because of the fact that we are lucky enough to fly for a company that still allows us (and a training department that encourages us) to fly raw data manually when the conditions permit you to.
So, in reply to your quote, I'm saying that I will be using manual thrust in stormy conditions because the environment might be pushing the a/thr system to it's limits and I have been able to practise at other times to get better than the a/thr which basically is nothing more then a computerized speedchaser. In benign conditions this computer-speedchaser does a great job, but, in certain conditions, he looses to any pilot with adequate training.
Originally Posted by junebug172
Company procedure allows us to increase Vapp up to Vls + 15 as a windshear precaution
That's standard airbus as shown in the note in the QRH's "Vapp determination without failure"
edit: added reply to previous post