Indeed haughtney the captain clearly didn't/doesn't understand 'on approach mode' in the 777 which will indeed climb to get back onto the path if you have been dive&driving in FLCH and then select VNAV.
I too have flown that approach many times in a 777 and if you simply put the approach & transition in and leave the aircraft in LNAV/VNAV it's a doddle.
The approach has a 3 degree path coded in and from 8dme you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between a VOR APP and an ILS except for the higher minima and the FMAs would say /LNAV/VNAV PATH instead of /LOC/GS.
This incident is purely an example of a crew not understanding their aircraft - a training and standards issue. I'd be interested to hear what the captain was flying before the 777 and his time on type.
Why is anyone surprised the ATSB report is seriously deficient?
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 22nd Feb 2013 at 10:15.