Quote from captplaystation (my emphasis):
It seems that AF ( with the longest history of any A320 operator if we include the ex Air Inter crews) & this particular Capt (who had "only" 9800hrs on type ) still haven't grasped the modes/logic/idiosyncrocities of the Bus.
This mistake rapidly became a classic no-no by the latter part of 1988 in my airline. The best spin one might be able put on this incident is that the low-hours-on-type co-pilot/PF forgot his recent training, and the captain was so distracted (for reasons unknown) that he failed to notice the pitch bar disappearing downwards, and failed to monitor the speed. (In OP DES mode, with A/THR consequently in IDLE mode, only the elevator can control the speed.)
I'm a little surprised that the speed got down to Valpha-floor, however. After the Bangalore accident, the FMGS logic was modified to switch automatically from OP DES mode to VS mode when the IAS fell much below VLS. (can't remember the figure right now). When the FMGS switches to VS mode, the A/THR mode changes from IDLE to SPD.
You got one thing badly wrong, though. The joint launch-customers for the A320 were AF and BR (British Caledonian... remember?). Air Inter was third in the line. BR became BA on 1/4/88, the day our first A320 (G-BUSB) was delivered. BA's accident-free operation (we bought 10) may have got less publicity than the others. See the
Habsheim thread?