Just started reading this thread, overall it is kept fairly clean of sensationalism.
Translations provided by Alice seem pretty good, Here and there a couple of question marks point to lack routine with respect to aeronautical matters, that’s all.
From some of the initial posts, the exclamation “what, on autopilot, without ILS?”
Yes, it is possible to fly any approach with autopilot on, only the landing has to be made manually. (Autoland is only possible on an autoland approved ILS approach). Modes used could be (the equivalent of) Heading Select or Lateral Nav for track following and Vertical Speed for descent. As stated before, baro altimeter to be used for managing the vertical profile, radio altimeter not (although of course it will be on continuously).
Also from somewhere in the beginning: “what effect would radio altitude have on autothrottle?” Nothing. Only in case of autocoupled ILS approach followed by autoland, will radio altitude have influence (pull back thrust during flare maneuver).
(I don’t fly Tu 154, but some autopilot basics are universal).
In sound bites from radio or TV interviews, it is very hard to know exactly what was meant, by interviewer and interviewee.
Example – around post #75, Question - about the “warnings” were they based on Baro or Radio altitude?
Well, EnhancedGPWS uses True Altitude (=GPS) plus position and GPWS uses Radio Altitude (and rate) and both provide WARNINGS, or was it solely the “warning” related to the alleged Russian procedure to set a Radio Decision Height even for a non-precision approach?
So what did the investigator mean with his answer that radio altitude seemed to be involved?
(I know my quotes are not literal, just meant to convey the idea).
So, overall, like said by many before, don’t jump to conclusion too quickly, but in general, let the translations keep flowing.