The Dominican

As smart as the pilot group that frequents APC is, they won't be able to find it because there isn't.

If it is on your company SOP's it becomes regulatory, granted. But there is no restrictions on hand flying an A/C anywhere in the requirements for RVSM flight in the regulations at all. One thing is the regulation and another thing is your company SOP's

Federal Aviation Regulation Appendix G to Part 91 - Operations in Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) Airspace

This is a link for all requirements for RVSM airspace and there is no reference at all for an A/P. I think that people read this requirement "(2) The aircraft must be equipped with at least one automatic altitude control system that controls the aircraft altitude -- " and interpret this to be the A/P, it isn't; this is the ALT HOLD capability on your F/D

OKLATEX

When hand flying, does your company require/recommend autopilot/autothrottles both off, or autopilot off, autothrottles on.

Just curious of requirements and techniques that guys are using.

contrails

I fly the EMB-170 series.

On the way up, I leave the throttles on and override them a little if I want to smooth out a level off at intermediate altitudes.

On the descent, whenever it is that I turn off the A/P, could be 10,000' or could be 300' (usually when cleared for the approach if it's not low IFR) I turn the throttles OFF at that time and they remain off the rest of the flight. I find the autothrottles chasing what I'm doing in the descent if I don't do this, and it becomes more of a distraction than anything else. They also make enormous, over-reactive thrust changes all the way down final if left on (two days ago the other guy was hand flying with them on and N1 went down to 33% to correct for being about 4 knots above our selected airspeed, and this was on about a one mile final). When the A/P is flying, they know what is going to happen and do alright. When you are flying, they only know that you're going to try and follow the flight director (if it's on) but they can't adjust the thrust until there is a trend showing that they need to. I much prefer to do it myself than to sit there and override them all the way down.

Tinpusher007

I noticed this the first time I flew on one of those things. Even in the descent and on final, there never seemed to be a noticeable reduction in power until the flare. The jockeying of power also seemed quite excessive. Then I rode up front once and the guys told me the A/T's weren't that great.

contrails

Yeah, it's crazy.

Like I said though, they do fine anytime the A/P is on because it knows exactly what the "other hand" is doing. Also, they're great in cruise. Just when you are hand flying, they are reactive. I can do it better myself. Actually, what the autothrottles do while we're handflying can technically put us out of the requirements of a stable approach because even though we're on speed and on glideslope, having the thrust at IDLE at 300 feet on final is not spooled up at all. Hence why I haven't landed with them on since...I guess a few weeks after IOE.

Tinpusher007

Our profiles are written with A/P being engaged right at 600ft on takeoff and used till about 400ft for a visual approach. However this is not law and you can use your discretion if you like to handfly. The thing with the CRJ is that flying anything other than a straight out departure requires alot of the other pilot because everything has to be bugged...spd, alt, hdg, and vertical modes set for climbs. I never go A/P at 600ft unless its an rnav dept, but I have become more mindful of what Im doing to the other guy and how easily mistakes can be made.

KC10 FATboy

Oklatex:

Is it true that FedEx requires the ATS and AP to be on during all approaches?

I heard that once from a reserve buddy of mine. He was commenting on my technique of clicking off the ATS during turbulent approaches as I feel it reduces PIO and stabilizes the aircraft.

Follow up, do guys go against the policy if indeed it is true?

Rebuilt

For several years I flew for a commuter airline that had aircraft without autopilot, flight director, autothrottles, or GPS. We flew multiple legs in high density airspace where attention both inside and outside the cockpit was critical.

In my opinion, cruising above FL180 allows some relaxation from constantly scanning for traffic outside the window. So why is it a burden for the pilots to divide their attention between outside and inside at the higher altitudes if the plane is being hand-flown?

Swedish Blender

I think the automation is encouraged a lot in Asia and Europe for noise abatement. It's easier doing CDA letdowns with George flying.

Rightseat Ballast

My company suggests leaving the A/T on regardless of A/P engagement. However, A/T are allowed to be disconnected during hand flying. Personally, I have very little issue with the A/T on the E170, even during hand flying. They sometimes have a tendency to over react to your inputs, but I find it easier to just block the A/T movement during those brief transitions to allow smoother engine operation. 99% of the time, the power will move smoothly if you fly smoothly. Windy days are annoying, as the power will move a lot on approach, but these engines don't have the inertia of bigger engines, and they are able to spool up and down quickly to make corrections.