KayPam:
But it should really depend on how they manual-fly, shouldn't it ?
Yes, I am not familiar at all with the A300-600 trim system, but if you ( or the system ) trim for 3000ft/min and you suddenly depress the A/P , I wonder how the pressure on the yoke will be. Add delay due to some surprise and possibly a bit confusion over the R/A ( level off is a new 7.1 feature) then most probably receiving another corrective RA ,( under 7.1 this is what you get ) and you could get close to the scenario. Not an excuse though, , just a tentative explanation.
misd-agin :
it definitely doesn't take 700' to level off an airliner climbing at 2,000-3,000 FPM.
Agree, but where did you get the 700 ft from ?