Catching a late sink by manual thrust in an A330.
A Malaysia Airlines A330 became unstable at low altitude during its landing at Melbourne Airport, Australia on 14 March 2015. The landing was hard requiring landing gear replacement. Part of the ATSB report said: "At 60 ft. AGL, the captain moved the thrust levers forward momentarily into the TOGA detent. He told the investigators that this was done in response to a feeling that the aircraft was sinking below the path, and the intention was to reduce the sink by applying more thrust to the engines."
The report said at the time of the occurrence there was no procedure on the A330 for the use of manual thrust for this purpose.
One of the findings published by the ATSB was "the captain used an unapproved manual thrust procedure in an attempt to recover the approach."
While this writer has never flown an Airbus type, I cannot understand the logic of that finding by the ATSB. On countless occasions when flying the Boeing 737, there were times a sudden late sink caused by wind shear below trees was caught by timely application of manual thrust. Is that wrong technique on an A330?
Could someone please explain what ATSB means when it says "the captain used an unapproved manual thrust procedure in an attempt to recover the approach?" What is the difference in the A330 between an approved manual thrust and a unapproved manual thrust procedure?