Smart Throttle | Throttle Lock
THROTTLE LOCK
What is this feature about?
Basically, this feature would allow the pilot to set a MAXIMUM N1 percetage that will be reached by the engine.
Under the ENGINES panel of the SYSTEMS menu, we could for example set a value between 1% and the maximum N1 percentage reachable by the engine:
- 100% for the ERJ-175
- 101% for the A350-900 and A330-300
- 116% for the 787-8/9/10
Why would this be useful?
I agree this feature seems a bit weird, why not use full power? Well real-life pilots very rarely (never could have been used here) use 100% N1 because if used for too much time it damages the engine significantly. (the A220 engine, Pratt & Whitney PW1500G can only resist 15 seconds-ish before the engine breaks down)
Most experienced pilots (in Infinite Flight) never use 100% N1 but the Autopilot does, which is why I am making this request.
All-in-all, this would restrict the autopilot from using unrealistic amounts of power. It would slow down the rate of acceleration when using the A/P Auto-throttle, to better match what happens in real life.
SMART THROTTLE
What would this add to the feature above?
Of course there must be situations where 100% N1 or more can, should or must be used. Therefore there could be both a manual override of the Throttle Lock and an automatic override of it.
For example if the Infinite Flight A/P detects the beginning of a STALL the Throttle Lock must be stopped to avoid entering a deeper STALL and the throttle would come back to the “normal” operation which is what we currently have in the sim.
Another example would be at higher altitude airports where you need a higher thrust setting than at sea level, you realise you don’t have enough power so you override Throttle Lock.
In conclusion, this feature (2 in 1) would allow for much more realistic usage of the Autopilot and of the general Engine Thrust. This would pretty much match what FLEX is in aviation.
Please also note that this is not an Auto-Throttle request. For the autothrottle discussion, please see this link: Enhanced Autothrottle [Autopilot] (TO/GA, CLIMB, CRUISE, DESC, APPR)