[Quote] The first words on the CVR after the crash-and-go were "It shouldn't have done that..... [Unquote].
That particular incident was when a "Training Captain" was conducting a demonstration/familiarisation sortie with the Station Commander in the other seat. At that time "Autoland" wasn't an approved manoeuvre for the RAF and crews only had scant information of how the system worked. Hence, with little experience of how to set up the initial approach for "capture" of the LOC and GS, the Training Captain engaged A/L during the final approach in an attempt to demonstrate, i.e. "show-off", the capability of the aeroplane. At 300 feet they had the wrong perception that the autopilot had captured the GS, and the LOC, when in fact it was in CWS mode. The autopilot, at the last moment, captured the GS and took a dirty dive to capture the GS which resulted in a high ROD "into" the runway. The resulting "bounce" was recovered into a Go-Around which, indeed, had ruptured the Centre Tank which contained ballast fuel for the training sortie. The main wing spar had also taken a huge impact load and they (the crew) were very lucky to get away with a successful landing.
As is always the case with a new aircraft on RAF inventory, someone must be nominated as a "Training Captain"! The said pilot was a very experienced Victor pilot with many hours under his belt, though, he was very inexperienced on the TriStar.
The "bottom line" was... the lack of understanding of the Autoland System and little experience on type.
As a separate aside reference the "Circuit Breaker" incident (the brake "Top up Pump" power supply); the BA Ground Engineer held-in the CB in an attempt to get enough hydraulic pressure to tow the aeroplane... which set fire to the hydraulic pump (and the whole of the hydraulic bay). During the extensive repair programme it was discovered that a previous (undocumented) repair had been carried out to the Main Spar. Hence, the return to flight of this particular (ex PAN-AM) aeroplane took longer than expected.
As is always the case on PPrune, posters don't always get the facts correct. The crew of the TriStar Autoland incident didn't sit back and watch the aeroplane fly into the ground, it happened in very quick time at a very low altitude when they (the crew) hadn't seen that CWS Mode was temporarily engaged whilst the Autopilot was trying to look for a valid GS/LOC signal. The aeroplane was flying at a normal ROD for the final approach, albeit in CWS Mode, when, during the final 200 feet or so, Autoland found the GS signal and the autopilot made a rapid descent correction... and struck the runway whilst hands were flying everywhere to get rid of the autopilot.
Sad but true! Quite how the Captain got away with just a minor bollocking beggars belief! Within this day and age of the MAA I'm guessing that he'd be hung out to dry?
TCF