Plain English Meaning

A system that moves the throttles for you to keep the airplane at the speed or thrust setting you've selected, so you don't have to constantly adjust them by hand.

Full Definition

Aircraft systems that automatically control engine thrust to maintain a commanded airspeed, Mach number, or thrust setting selected by the pilot or the flight management system. The autothrottle moves the throttle levers as needed to hold the target value during phases such as climb, cruise, , and , and can be with the and to manage through a planned .