Originally Posted by
Sailvi767
How at the moment of engagement does the flight crew not note the immediate nose down movement and disconnect the autopilot within 1 to 2 seconds. Basic airmanship dictates that any time a flight mode change is engaged or activated you verify the desired result is achieved.
In fairness the report says the skipper responded almost immediately, but you can imagine that with engines at climb power (this was after the acceleration altitude) a nose down pitch to 0 feet would be pretty abrupt. Although the mode confusion wasn’t caught before it bit them, the report does commend the crew for their prompt actions after it happened.