RJ's and autothrust
 

Does anybody know why most RJ's don't have autothrust? It seems like it'd be pretty annoying to keep adjusting power all day long. Is it not available, or do the airlines simply not order it?

How do you go about power management anyway? Do you chase a specific speed/mach, or do you just set a specific power setting and take the speed you get?

Man, how lazy have some become at this job. The plane does everything but takeoff, land, and set power (and this is not the case in some which do all of the three.)

If only we can find a solution in having to push that PTT button. It is such a hastle to actually push a button to talk.

I believe the CRJ7/9 has available autothrottles. But it costs money which nobody is really willing to spend.

If I'm flying the 200 and have a tailwind, or can reasonably expect to be on time, I'll just do .74 like the company says. That does actually require some jockeying. May as well save some gas. If we're late, or going into the wind, I set max cruise and just see what I get.

They do have autothrottles. Two of them in fact. Their called "Captain" and "First Officer". At least thats how the bean counters see it. Autothrottles are an expensive option that few operators think is worth it (supposedly they save gas but someone above my pay grade did the cost/benefit analysis on that). If you're good at it, you're not adjusting power all day long. You can set an N1 or a fuel flow and pretty much leave it alone till you change something. The ERJ has a throttle "detent" where the FADECs automatically command the thrust depending on the thrust mode selected (T/O, CLB, CRZ). Trust me, its not as hard as it sounds to adjust the throttles. Just ask some Eagle or XJT guys who got to fly the ERJ with flowbacks who were used to autothrottles.

Thanks guys. I guess it's one of those things that seems tedious until you've tried it, and you find that it's not really that bad.

Yeah, you can get over the lack of autothrottles pretty easily. Now lack of appropriate pay, on the other hand...

How many airplanes have you flown with autothrottles? Did it seem tedious then? Its not any worse than synching the props on a light twin, easier in fact.

Haven't had the pleasure of flying with autothrust yet, but I'd think that with the higher workload environments that you guys are in, it would certainly be appreciated a whole lot.

Never seen one that will takeoff on it's own.

You would really be annoyed by the Saab.