Patent ID: 8682562

Claim:
A method for operating a gas turbine engine, comprising: before disengagement of an auto-throttle system, receiving, by an engine controller, a Throttle Lever Angle (TLA) setting and a TLA fine trim setting applied by the auto-throttle system that together provide a desired engine thrust; upon disengagement of the auto-throttle system, determining, a first trim setting corresponding to the TLA setting; determining, by the engine controller, a second trim setting defined from the first trim setting and the TLA fine trim setting, wherein the second trim setting gradually reduces to zero during successive manual throttle lever movements; determining, by the engine controller, a third trim setting comprising a combination of the first trim setting and the second trim setting; and applying the third trim setting to the TLA setting as a substitute for the fine trim setting to smoothly transition from auto-throttle to manual operation of the engine while maintaining engine thrust.