ATS Questions

[alstr]

Hi, I have a variety of noob questions relating to ATS I was hoping someone could shed some light on to help me further understand this wonderful aircraft.

1. I've encountered a few scenarios, usually on approach, where ATS fails and I can't reconnect it. I want to better understand the reasons for this. I'm assuming it's because the aircraft can no longer maintain the speed selected, or because of some manual intervention. How can I rectify it?

2. I also want to clarify the colour of the speed on the PFD. Is this correct; Pink - ATS active and following speed in VNAV setup; Blue with ATS illuminated - speed set at number dialled in by speed knob; Blue with ATS not illuminated - ATS disengaged, power set by throttle position. Sometimes I'm not sure whether ATS is active or not.

3. What is the meaning of the throttle sliders that appear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, indicating that they should be moved to the position shown?

4. Sometimes when climbing out with a heavy fuel load the speed plateaus at around 200kts and then starts to fall backwards. ATS fails here also as the aircraft appears to be climbing too steeply to meet the speed asked of it (presumably partly answering my first question). I usually set speed to 231 before takeoff then after the packs transition engage VNAV climb at 250 kts. What is the best procedure here?

(I am sure the real world detail is much more complex than can be distilled here but a general overview is helpful).

Thanks.

Edited 1 hour ago by alstr