Hi ACMS, I meant that my company banned the procedure, but the impression I got was that it came from Airbus. I am delighted that it is not banned by Airbus (with caveats), and will therefore keep it in my back pocket for those hot, thermally approaches which sometimes confuse the A330.
Cheers !
Hi Micro, yes, perhaps my meaning was not very clear. GS mini is an airspeed target which is computed according to the tower wind and any detected wind changes on approach, and is followed by the A/THR to keep the groundspeed above a certain minimum, based on the groundspeed required at touchdown. When the headwind increases above the tower headwind the GS mini increases its target, increasing indicated airspeed to maintain the groundspeed.
In my experience it does a very good job but obviously, really big gusts can upset this, as they can upset anything.
I wonder if Airbus forgot to program the "Approach autothrust" mode into the A330? (This mode makes the autothrust more responsive to speed variation below 3200' rad alt.)