Originally Posted by
Flocks
No, it is not possible to have FD mode but not seeing the FD in the dash 8, so yes they had a command bar showing a descent.
the initial pitch for take off is 15degree, at acceleration flaps are selected to zero, the nose is lowered to the FD GA bar (around 8 degree), then the autopilot is asked for engagement, what will engage the pitch mode, if the nose is not lowered to the GA bar, when engaging the autopilot the FD will synchronise to the current pitch and as said before go to pitch mode.
Thanks for the exposition, and it goes a long way toward explaining to me what happened. To make sure I understand you right, I'll repeat it in my own words: On a normal TO, the FD is only capable of showing 8 degrees, where you normally pitch to ~15. (So far so good?) So on a routine take off, (before acceleration) you're used to ignoring the pitch bar as you're flying ~7 degrees above it.
If you're used to following the FD (normal for my plane) it's inconceivable to not notice that it's down in the dirt.
But if you're used to ignoring it, it's a much smaller gap to bridge from "it's somewhere down there in the blue" to "it's somewhere down there in the brown." Not noticing is now a lot more plausible, and according to your normal-case scenario, it's easy to see how they could engage the AP at the routine time.
Of course all this only explains the pre-AP engagement phase.