Name three autopilot modes commonly used during approach on the A320.

• A. ALT (Altitude Hold), AP (CMD 1/2), APPR (Approach) with NAV/LNAV for lateral guidance and A/THR for speed management.
• B. AP (CMD 1/2), ALT (Altitude Hold), APPR (Approach) with NAV/LNAV for lateral guidance and A/THR for speed management.
• C. AP (CMD 1/2), HDG (Heading) hold, APPR (Approach) with NAV only for lateral guidance.
• D. AP (CMD 1/2), APPR (Approach) only, no speed management.

Answer: (A)

When flying an approach, you want automatic control that follows the published path, respects altitude restrictions, and keeps the proper speed with minimal manual input. Altitude Hold maintains the current or assigned altitude, ensuring you don’t descend too early while you’re positioning for the approach. Engaging both autopilot channels (CMD 1/2) provides full, redundant automatic control of the aircraft, which is standard for a stable approach. Switching to Approach mode ties the airplane to the approach path, using NAV/LNAV for lateral guidance so you follow the localizer and any RNAV route, while a speed-target is managed automatically with A/THR to hold the correct approach speed. This combination gives precise path tracking, safe altitude management, and consistent speed control through the approach.

The other approaches either fixate on a heading instead of following the approach path, omit automatic speed management, or rely on limited lateral guidance, which would not provide the same level of precision and workload reduction during a critical phase like landing.