Because you hear the engines making sometimes very abrupt adjustments.I've seen pleny of passengers look up when that happens.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

It's really not that hard to maintain speed (esp in a real plane vs FS) using known power and pitch settings. That's always good stuff to know even if you are flying an autothrottle equiped aircraft. Those things are not foolproof - read the account of the 757 accident in the Domincan Republic where plugged static ports caused everything to be unreliable, including the ASI. If the pilots had used known power and pitch settings, that airplane probably wouldn't have stalled and crashed. Instead they were trying to use FLCH and other autothrottle based techniques and it just worsened the problem...

I can remember flying as a passenger when autolanding was first introduced in the UK. It was possible to tell when autoland was in use because of the noticeable changes in engine noise as it adjusted the throttles.

I think that the A/T and other automation in the cockpit is a helper not a way to fly an airplane. When you learn to fly you learn how to do it manually and this is for good reason because you have to know how to do it. For example many students today can not do math without a calculator and sadly they do not feel the need to learn it, they say "why learn when we can use a calculator". I can tell you right now that I would not want such a person working for me as a cashier or some other job that requires math skills. Same goes for a pilot, I would not want to sit in the back of a plane that contained a pilot that did not fully understand the basics or had become too reliant on automation if a failure occured in one of the systems that control automation. I want a pilot that will snap off the auto pilot and confidently take control of the craft in a situation, not go hunting for another A/P mode to get his butt out of the fire. Don't get me wrong, I love the A/P and use it often but it should be a helper rather than the way to fly the aircraft all of the time. Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

we seem to learn how to use an aircraft with the autopilot first - and then handflying if we dare.That's one of the beauties of FS - we can fly planes we are definitely qualified to fly in the real world, or the FS world to be accurate - and use all the automation to keep the plane in the air.Our company CL-601's don't have autothrottle. The new G-200's do, but the pilot's only use it occasionally - per company policy.One of the things I love about the CaptSim 727 is it forced me to learn to handle the aircraft without relying on an autothrottle, and minimal auto pilot input.But a second question on AutoThrottle for real world pilots?Would it be used during climb? My impression is no - only at cruise. But I could be wrong.

>>Would it be used during climb? My impression is no - only at>cruise. But I could be wrong.Yes, you are wrong. Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>>>>Would it be used during climb? My impression is no - only at>>cruise. But I could be wrong.>>Yes, you are wrong. >>Michael J.>WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB>Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2>Very eloquent and in depth answer :-rollIt all depends on what the AT was designed to do. Most modern AT's can be used from takeoff to landing. Older AT's like those on the earlier DC-9's were essentially a cruise AT and were not used in the climb or descent.Some aircraft, such as Concorde, were designed to be flown mainly with the AT. In fact, Concorde had limitations on manual throttle approaches as opposed to using the AT.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

The big issue with safety when it comes to automation is that as on said, you're outside the loop. You are not feeling what's going on as indepth.As with the jack screw incident involving an Alaskan Airlines flight. The autopilot corrected for the growing problem until it couldn't maintain control anymore. At that point it was too damaged to have any hope for regaining control. I believe airlines now are supposed to have the pilot's hand fly ever hour or so for a few minute to feel for anything out of the ordinary. When automation fails, the only indication it gives may be when it's too late. Autobrakes may fail and you won't know until you're halfway down the runway careening too fast to stop or go-around in the remaining distance. Granted these are rare incidents when they fail, but some airlines like Southwest feel they'd rather have their pilots intuitively aware of their aircraft in the way only hand-flying can bring you.That's my personal opinion on the issue.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach