@ DaveReidUK...
Oh pleeease!
Yes Boeing could have made their understanding of the system better in their manuals and did a better job at it on the 787...
However the fact remains and the bottom line is that this crew (3 of them in the cockpit) and in particular the PF/captain screwed up big time.
- He may have thought the A/T would "save" him but he did not understand the system and it came back and bit him.
- Fact, they did not even follow company SOPs
- Fact, he selected a higher altitude in the preselect which in FLC mode will try to climb (and add power) to that selected altitude. This is not a B777 only FLC mode of operation, it works that way in many aircrafts.
- Fact, even after A/T and A/P disconnect he couldn't fly the aircraft of a prescribed track, laterally and most importantly vertically.
Fact, the PF did not even notice the increase in pitch attitude while looking outside.
Fact, when the speed bleed way below the calculated Vref and was heading towards a stall, he did not even notice the increase in back pressure required to keep the aircraft from continuing its descent below G/S, up to 100 lbs back pressure at one point!
Some of you guys would like to blame SFO ATC, some of you guys would like to blame Boeing (and yes their manual should be better written), but in the end it was the PF's responsibility to get that aircraft down safely and he did not to his job.