Why EPR?
I have been thinking about EPR for thrust setting since reading the Swift Air accident report. It is not the only accident I can instantly think of where inlet probe icing led to incorrect thrust limiting and setting (Air Florida comes instantly to mind) and I believe that Boeing removed EPR from the 737 in favour of N1 for precisely that reason.
EPR also seems a far less user friendly method of thrust setting - I have only flown in EPR equipped aircraft in the sim (732 and 744) but did not find setting 1.17 EPR on a tape anywhere near as simple as setting 60% N1. I have also seen the EPR equipped 320s with a 3 decimal place EPR as primary thrust setting indicator.
I am aware that with everything working, EPR actually tells you how much thrust the engine is producing whereas N1 only tells you how fast the fan is spinning.
Is the advantage of knowing precise thrust output enough to outweigh the limitations I've set out? I don't have enough experience with EPR to answer the questions (or know if I'm asking the right ones) so would welcome some input from those who do.