Originally Posted by fr8tmastr
I disagree, when the pilot tried to add power and go around the plane would have followed his commands. The aircraft would have not been locked into the landing mode There is no way a lightly loaded airliner can cruise along at 150 feet altitude for over a mile and not accelerate, unless the computer would not allow it, as the computer thought it was time to land. This is why Airbus had to change programming to not allow that scenerio to happen again. Sure the pilots had the plane in the wrong "mode" but once there, they had no ability to fly the aircraft out.
The aircraft was not at 150'. The pilots thought they were at 100', but a problem with the baro settings falsely led to that. They were at more like 30'.(Airbus sent out an OEB-like an AD- to AirFrance about this, but it never made it to the pilots) OEB= Operational Engineering Bulletin
Also, there was an OEB sent out about the CFM engines. A problem of engines not accelerating normally at low altitudes. The pilots also did not receive this. When the engines would not "spool up" as expected, the pilot thought there was a "short circuit" some where in the system, so he pulled the power back, then advanced them again. Resulting in an even slower respose. That's why in the video you can hear the engines spool up just as the aircraft was hitting the trees. Too late.
This too has been fixed.
So the computer did not "lock" in the landing mode.