They didn't HAVE to intercept glids slope from above, nor continue with the approach. They could and almost certainly should have initiated a go-around well before things got to that stage.
I can't speak for Turkish, but what you describe would constitute an unstable approach by any SOPS I've operated to, and a go-around would have been manditory from 1000ft. If nothing else, all SOPs I've operated to mandate thrust not be at idle by 1000'- clearly not the case here.
Don't you think it's also ATC's responsibility to send aircraft on an ILS interception from above?? It happens very often and as you said this shouldn't be accepted. However, many crews, and not only Turkish, prefer to intercept than going around.
The accident isn't the result of a single cause as many posters seems to believe. Here are some of the main contributions:
- ATC cleared the aircraft for intercepting the ILS beyond the interception point and above GS.
- The rad-alt failure set the AT to retard mode
- Despite being fully established at 1330', the high Vz interception increased the airspeed which couldn't be stabilized at 1,000'
- Vref was reached at 770' and crew failed to notice the lack of thrust adjustment
- Trim was set to max nose up as speed decaying during the next 300'
- Manual full thrust input combined to the high nose up trim setting caused the aircraft to pitch up and stall at 300' resulting in a low speed/high attitude impact.
From what I've read, I wouldn't say it's only a matter of 3 guys sleeping for 100 seconds and crashing without using their fully serviceable engines.
I think CVR would be very useful to comment on crew's actions, be it in the BA or in the Turkish. It's amazing to see professionals celebrating or accusing colleagues without any knowledge of what actually happened in the cockpit.
While I find totally stupid to call the BA guys heroes (who did nothing but letting the AP fly the wrong way) I find even more inappropriate to accuse a dead crew without having properly read the report. Is this what you consider as a professional attitude?