Originally Posted by vilas
In IA crash pilots switched to open descent without realising it and speed kept dropping finally 27 Kts. below Vapp. One pilot switched off his FD without other pilots knowledge. All the time they thought they are in speed mode but no one checked the FMA, there was not a single call about speed by any of them. Finally alpha floor did kick in and also pilots themselves moved to TOGA but they lost their lives because they did it 15 seconds too late.
Actually they were well aware to be in open descent but didn't know how they ended up in such mode they did not desire. Instead of minding the overall situation and mainly the speed they put their energy on finding why they were on that OP DES mode and how they could leave it.
Instead of reverting to the fully manual solution, they were looking for a software solution (is it a consequence of the training where emphasis was probably more on understanding and managing a computerized system ... ?) but could not find it on such short notice for a System that was new for them.
For guys with their experience on HS748 and B737 it is surprising how they simply forgot about checking their speed, or how one can be easily distracted ...