Ah, but I've done a bit of reading, and it's quite possible that the
auto-throttle was not only disconnected by the flight mode required to
get down to the proper glide path, but the auto-throttle WARNING is
also deactivated (look up "the FLCH trap" on 777s). Result: no
autothrottle, no warning when more thrust was needed. Only takes a
few seconds to get too low and too slow, and 10 seconds to get full
thrust and stop descent.
Today's press conference indicated the co-pilot did alert the pilot to
descending past glide slope and low airspeed, but by that time it was
too late, hard to stop that particular aircraft from continuing to
descend.
The usual situation: a combination of events which if in isolation
would not be a problem all occurring together.
According to the web blog, SFO ATC is notorious for holding planes
well above the glide path and then suddenly asking for a "slam dunk"
approach which requires a steeper than normal descent to re-acquire
the glide slope, and the ALPA has been complaining vigorously for a
couple decades for them to quit doing that before they cause just this
type of accident, or a runway over-run.
Peter
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