Mistakes happens in flight decks , they did and they will. Only bean counters and uneducated people are thinking that the robots in seats 0A and 0B are bound to zero faults operation.
We, ( monkeys up front) have the best equipment of human race : an adaptative brain in case of immediate threat; even the most imbecile of human will to everything to survive in front of an unexpected danger. Therefore, when everything fails, our little reptilian brain just makes what is necessary to make us realize the situation; sometimes it is too late, sometimes it is a pass.
The "pilot" who ditched the plane in the river was the luckiest pilot of that period, all mistakes and bad judgment were made in 5 minutes, the worst CRM, the worst technical skills, but the best aircraft for ditching, and like what everybody remembers of a flight ( i.e. the landing), they made it.
As far as non precision approaches are concerned, some people here have to realize that , although GPS has a worldwide coverage, many countries do not have this type of approaches published, so it is not a WASS ILS like every time ; it is not even constant descent rates because of old PAN-OPS design criteria or even not PAN-OPS ( not mentioning TERPS).
As it was said above, they made a mistake, realized it, corrected it, and landed the plane..period. Now that an investigation needs to be made in order that this error will not happen again ( at least in this company) is the essence of commercial aviation nowadays. There is NO other industry that self improve itself so often, learning from it's own mistakes and on a routine basis.
For the Airbus FBW , talking about what was 20+ years ago and nowadays, is like making a comparison between an ATL crossing in a Constellation and a 777; but something lacks in the industry though : educated persons; and this shows in a blatant manner here on pprune; the moment of fame is very acute and the anonymity ( or sense of) is not helping; it is funny to see the behavior of the people IRL compared to the attitude on forums for example.
So next time you make a mistake ( would it be in the plane, your car, boat, street..whatever) and that you REALIZE it, just slip in the feet of the crew that did just what they are paid for, take the plane from A to B, and after B being reusable...