Auto throttles and landing

[Guest Formula]

I am relatively new to the 747 and had a quick question for anyone with enough experience to know the answer. I know on the MD-11 that you can leave the A/T on all the way through the flight until it moves to idle at 50 feet above touchdown where the A/T automatically moves to idle. I will move the throttles manually out of their flight configuration of full thrust to the idle position during final approach so the throttles dont jump to full thrust after automatic A/T disconnect. Is this procedure the same with the 747 or do I have to manually disconnect the A/T at 50 feet? I have only done one flight so far and it seemed that the A/T remained on even after touchdown and the throttles where at idle position on my HOTAS. I managed to prevent the 747 from becoming an offroad vehicle only by applying full brakes and reverse and MANUALLY disconnecting the A/T once I noticed I wasnt slowing down. Thank you to long runways! Any advice is appreciated!Bryan LeeWindows 7 64AMD 965 BE Quad Core @ 3.4 GhzGigabyte 790XT-A UD4 MotherboardDual 5770's in CrossfireX8 gigs ADATA Gaming RAMAsetek 120 MM liquid CPU cooler2 WD Black 320 MB HD's in RAID 01000W Power Supply

[jcalder 25]

Were you performing an autoland? I know if I autoland the 744 it automatically goes to idle and I can apply reverse thrust like normal. Then once I put the engines back to normal idle I disengage the AT for taxiing purposes.When hand-flying your approach and using AT, I believe you have to disengage the AT manually before flaring. I generally control my thrust manually when hand-flying approaches so I'm not 100% sure, it's been awhile since I hand-flew an approach with AT engaged.Jeff Calder

[downscc 1,327]

I prefer A/T for either coupled or manual approaches, and simply hit the F1 before F2 to make sure I am going to have closed throttles before demanding reverse thrust. The A/T will close the throttles for you like the MD11, but this is an old habit of mine that always works.

[Guest Formula]

Yes Dan, I do the same thing. I think the problem is when the A/T dumps at 50 feet, even though my throttle is set to regular idle, FSX doesnt recognize the throttles are at idle until I move the throttle again. After moving the throttles again they become responsive and will now actually follow my input. So after the aircraft idles the throttles they then immediately go back to whatever postion they were set BEFORE the aircraft commanded idle and the only way to get the throttles to stay in idle is to move the throttle handle itself. Are you following me on this? Since I already set the actual throttle to idle during approach its just kinda annoying to have to move the throttles up and down just before landing to get them to idle. I dont know if there is anyway around this problem. I am using a Saitek X-52. Oh yeah by the way, I NEVER autoland unless conditions are severe IFR and usually disconn the A/P at 1000-500 ft.

[royski 0]

I assume you are using the AUTOLAND mode for this landing. Upon you final glideslope descent, confirm that the three APs are engaged and the AUTOLAND 3 announciator should be on. Now the AP has full control of landing procedure. At about 50 feet or so, the FLARE should be seen and the thrust should go idle at this time. Upon touchdown, ROLLOUT should be seen and it is your time to take manual control by disengaging the AP (pull the AP bar down) and A/T, then apply reverse thrust until 60 knots.Most of the time, I land manually and take full control at about 2000ft AGL. I seldom use AUTOLAND 3 mode - only for IFR condidtions.