My previous fleet manager told me that Airbus A/THR maintains bug plus or minus 5kts, whereas we pilots prefer to see a range of bug to bug +10kts. In other words, we are uncomfortable seeing speed less than bug, but the aircraft design has taken this into account and it is OK.
In addition, on approach the Airbus minimum groundspeed system keeps the groundspeed constant - which is more relevant for landing - rather than the airspeed, and although mini G/S is very good and safe system, its variations are perhaps not totally intuitive to pilots who are programmed to keep airspeed controlled.
Having said that, the 330 did sometimes give me cause for concern, and I really liked the "phase advance" technique of pushing the thrust levers forward of the CLB detent and back to "wake up" the A/THR.
Problem with that was, some pilots would push the levers forwards and leave them there for several seconds, by which time the engines would be producing far too much power and destablise the ship. All that was required in phase advance was click out click back, in the same time it takes to say that out loud. But as usual it was never explained properly and some folk got it wrong, so they banned the whole thing. Shame.
Last edited by Uplinker; 11th Aug 2015 at 09:32.