Guarding the throttle

The Aviation Weblog has recently reposted an old entry that mentioned a good tip from the AOPA’s flight website about “guarding the throttle” during take-offs, landings and important maneuvers. In case you are not familiar with the term, guarding the throttle refers to the throttlelocking mechanism to prevent it from slipping. It also refers to keeping one hand on the throttle during any phase of the flight that is considered critical.

In addition, the Aviation Weblogger mentioned:

I developed a habit of routinely keeping one hand on the throttle, though when at altitude I do relax. It’s a good habit to get into, because having that airplane under your complete control, particularly at critical phases of flight, is an absolute must.

The entry concluded by saying that a pilot should guard the throttle as if their life depended on it because it does. Definitely advice worth repeating.