Hey JB, here is a video of some German folk taking an A380 into San Francisco. Do you notice any differences between the way you do things and how they do things that stands out? I found it interesting that the control tower were giving speed commands to the aircraft, I knew they controlled altitude and direction, just not speed.
The speed related commands are coming from approach, not the tower. That's normal, but you have to be wary of them, as they've got a nasty habit of leaving you with too much energy.
Procedurally, they're similar, but not identical. The landing checklist was totally different. Curious, as I thought that was the whole point of Airbus...standardisation.
I was curious that the Captain disconnected the autothrust, and flew the approach using manual thrust. The 380 is really meant to have autothrust engaged at all times...there's no reason to disconnect it, as it does a good job.
I found the communication between captain/first officer the most interesting, especially when directions were being passed from the tower to the FO and then to the Captain for a confirmation it seemed?
Fairly standard coughpit comms. Things aren't always clear, and there's sometimes a bit of chat to sort it out.
When the gear down lever is applied, is there a way to actually check that the gear went down that leaves little room for doubt?
Yes...there's no doubt about it. The indication systems are duplicated (different sensors) and it shows up as greens on the dash, and also on the lower display. ECAM will become unhappy if the sequence doesn't complete correctly.
It seems difficult for the FO to repeat longer commands given to him by the tower, I noticed sometimes he ends up spurting out half of it - more focused on actually doing what they request instead of clear acknowledgement back to the tower.
Again pretty normal. He's not doing a bad job, especially as it isn't his native language. The US controllers have habit of speaking pretty quickly, and also of using local terms when speaking to foreign aircraft...and then get cranky when they aren't understood.
