Autothrottle Question
 

Hi everyone, the other day i was reading an article on what type of questions will be put upon you at an airline interview. One of the questions asked was: 'how can you tell, from the ground, weather the plane has autothrottle in use?'
I was wondering what the answer was for this as most jet/turboprop engines sound similar to each other.
Many Thanks
Dan

I cannot believe this is a question. Some of these companies should pull their heads out of their a**!

Looking at the way I manage thrust lever position vs. the way the auto throttle does; I would imagine that the answer is that the autothrot' tends to "chase" the commanded airspeed.

Where as I would set a specific N1 relating to the weight, etc. and generally let the a/c ride out slight fluctuations in airspeed. Thus listening to the approaching aircraft, one might note greater audible variations of thrust when a pilot is employing the auto throttle.

P.S. This may NOT be right and applys mainly to heavy cat' jets. Any company asking this type of question should probably be avoided.

Hope this goes some way to answering your question.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone, interesting reading. I was expecting there to be a more noticable and specific feature to listen out to!! Its a fairly vague question to be asked, but at least I know what to say if I make it to an interview now and i'm asked that question!
Many Thanks
Dan;)

Are you sure you've got that question right? It's rubbish. After 36 years flying, I still wouldn't have a clue if I watched an aeroplane on the approach whether the A/T was engaged or not, and I defy anybody else to know! Maybe it's one of those questions with no answer and they want to see how you squirm!

Thanks for the replies everyone! I found the paragraph in which this question was mentioned in the 'wannabees' section of this web-site. I don't know if I have phrased my initial post correctly, but here is the actual source:

'Third and final round is at *** at Stansted and you are met by Capt. *** and a beancounter from Air ***. The interview is led by *** and he chops and changes between technical questions about aircraft (If you were listening to an aircraft on finals, how would you know if it had auto-throttles?)'

Many Thanks
Dan

It's a spoof question! Autothrottles are no more active than me when I fly manual throttles! Who are these idiots who sit and dream up such nonsense?