After years on 737-100,200,300,400,500,800...
Just a personal perspective. I never saw any useful benefit of that use of A/T. I always preferred either an A/T ON or OFF control of the engines, also resting my hands on the thrust levers to tactfully confirm they both are doing what I want them to do. Back on some prehistoric 300s we saw that one thrust lever would come up whilst the other stayed at idle. A real surprize that prompted me to leave my hands on the thrust levers almost all the time I was expecting them to be moving either way. On another but slightly related subject, use of CWS was very useful at times, but Boeing now says NO to that and our 800s will not go into that mode via overpowering the control wheel or column.
Last edited by stator vane; 17th Nov 2017 at 18:25.
Reason: expansion