Hello
the other day we were cruising and decided to descent without autoplilot.
So we disconnected the autopilot, both Flight Directors OFF, and Bird ON, we kept only the AutoThrust, so on the FMA, SPEED was the only annunciated mode.
After a while, during descent and less than 180nm from our destination, we realized that the FMS mode was still in CRUISE phase.
We pulled and pushed on the altitude selector, even the vertical speed we pulled, to no avail.
We were able to select the APPROACH phase, but that really was simple: you have just to push the appropriate button on the MCDU
My question is: must we have the FD's on, for the FMS to change its flight phase, or what?
thanks B_D