Originally Posted by
industry insider
...the GA function would essentially manage speed.
Umm, not quite. The GA button cancels all other modes, maintains wings level, and commands a rate of climb of 750 fpm. The key point about this behavior is, if you don't have the power required to climb at 750 fpm, in trying to maintain that ROC the autopilot will slowly increase nose up pitch. As the nose is slowly pitched up the airspeed deceases slowly. If you fail to notice this, eventually the aircraft will get your attention with a sudden nose up pitch just before it falls out of the sky with zero airspeed. I've seen this happen during recurrent training, far too many times.