Other options were clearly available.
- neither the captain nor the copilot managed to restore engine thrust.
Yeah ??? Like whot ???
I did what happened to them on the sim, very same spot and apart from the fact I disconnected the A/P right away, I just flew the aircraft to the very same spot they did, just didn't stall, or very close to the ground. At any rate the motion didn't trip meaning it wasn't too hard of a landing.
I knew what was going to happen.......they did not !! I don't know who you fly for, but I do not remember my outfit training me for the loss of 2 engines at 700 ft after a 11 hours flight........or maybe I missed class that day........again.
They bloody did.......and nothing happened.
Now let me tell you something about the F/O " lack " of reaction. 15 years ago while on approach on a south american airport, a traffic pulled out of a cloud, right on my right hand side and the only profound thing I managed to utter was " Oh **** " He missed us by 12 feet !! ( no TCAS in those days ). I was the handling pilot and thought I had reacted pretty swiftly. As it turned out, I disconnected the A/P 7 sec after the initial conflict.
The skipper only understood what happened once he saw the traffic on his side and I think we also got a " Oh **** ".
Were we under stress ??? ........" oh **** YES !! " I also remember how freaked out we were that we may have stuffed up and although facts pointed to the contrary we still doubted. It was most unpleasant ( huge understatement !! ). It also took me some time to become my confidant self again. What about now ??? I love my TCAS !! Best thing invented after the dishwasher.
I think you are being most unfair totally disregarding the " surprise " factor here.
The aircraft also bled its speed when I flew it on the sim. Apparently, according to previous posts, BA seems pretty strict about their SOP's. Where I work, I would have jumped right on the controls. No right or wrong here, just different rules which kick right in under stress. That's the way it"s supposed to be.
If BA wants to change its SOP's, they'll do it in due time if they see it fit, but flogging the crew won't bring anything to the AAIB report.