As is usual with these events the amount of BS spouted in 45 odd pages is breathtaking however, it is still worth trawling through for the gems hidden within.
The Flight Deck dynamic is a complex thing especially if viewed through foreign eyes and while striving for complete openness and the ability to understand, learn and disseminate information and cause, sadly there will be organisations who lag behind others. The whole CRM ideology should be applied here to the multinational arena to understand rather than criticise cultural differences.
One aspect not discussed is the dynamic of two experienced Captains operating together albeit in a training / trainee role. Especially pertinent is the fact the trainee had significant time on another type. It is all too easy to revert to type in stressful situations and what is most familiar - the 3 weeks in the sim and 9 sectors on a new type or the X thousand hours over many years on something different? It is not clear which type the PF had transitioned from so I am unsure of any flight mode foibles or differences but I retrained from B to A and can personally vouch as to the speed decay rate of a heavy airliner when it is levelled in full landing config. My mistake? Confusing A/T function! 2 months after conversion was kept hot and high on approach but still 10 miles out so I disconnected everything levelled, slowed, configured then descended to capture the glide at Vapp, work done AP and AT engaged, sat back and watched my handiwork go to ratxxx! However the TL were still at idle & the ABus needs the thrust levers to be in the Climb detent and won't engage from idle unlike the Boeing. Speed decay was rapid and spool up took forever! TOGA and a GA saved the day but if this had occurred at 500ft as opposed to 2300 ft it could have been another story. The stabilised approach criteria are there for a reason!
Quite what the trainer was doing I have no idea but again what was the FD environment like with two Capts? we shall have wait and see.
It's my belief that's what happened here and the question has to be why no GA off what is a clearly unstable approach. That was the last slice of emmental.
On the 737 one element of the 500ft stable call was thrust spooled up to approach setting, (that element is missing from the AB but is still in my consideration) is the 777 similar?
It's also the reason that anytime I am manually flying now I do so completely ie with both AP and AT off - all in or all out!