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From viewer Anders Thorsland:

"Please note that the video is NOT an autoland accident ... please correct ...

The flight took off from LFSB (Basle Mulhouse Freiburg airport) about 10 nm due
south of Habsheim airport where the crash took place.

The airplane in question was part of an airshow at Habsheim and was one of the
star attractions. The flight was briefed before departure to be flown in "direct
law" by the pilots. This means with no alpha floor protection.

The pilots demonstrated a lack of understanding of the flight computer
architecture and laws. They thought they could not stall or have an accident
with this airplane - a la the Titanic I guess ...

Contributing factor was the fact that the crew had virtually no experience on
"big fan engines" and the rather long spool-up times. They came from Air Inter
and the rather unsuccessful "737 buster" made by Aerospatiale .... can't think of
the name right now I am afraid.

You can clearly hear on the video that the engines spool up and probably had
full thrust as it sinks into the trees and catches fire."
 

New 4/8/06  From a United Air LInes employee:

"Well, just when you thought you heard the "real story", the REALLY REAL STORY finally comes from a United Airlines Flight Simulator Instructor based in Denver, Colorado."

"There are bits and pieces that are correct in the first two explanations. It's true the pilot was not satisfactorily trained in this new kind of fly-by-wire flight control system of the time that also included the THROTTLES!  It's also true if you pull an Airbus side stick controller back far enough without sufficient speed the flight computer takes over and reduces the angle of attack regardless what position you continue to hold the stick. You cannot "override" this system,  contrary to public belief."

"Same goes for the early Airbus throttles. If you are in "landing" mode, it doesn't matter how far you advance the throttles, the flight computer is commanding the engine power output when in a set mode."

"The pilot had commanded the aircraft to do a slow fly-by in the "landing" configuration at a bugged airspeed. The problem came when the pilot attempted to climb-out at the end of his fly-by. The flight computer ignored his stick inputs because he didn't have sufficient speed or configuration to pull-up."

"Conversely, the flight computer also ignored his throttle inputs because the aircraft was flying at the pre-set airspeed and attitude that it was set to fly for the fly-by (Landing) Proper procedure called for the pilot to depress the GO-AROUND (GA) switch on the throttles if he didn't want to land. That in turn would "disconnect" the auto-land feature (which was believed to have been in use) and the throttles would have advanced automatically or reacted normally to manual throttle movement that would allow take-off power. But when set in the "landing" mode, the flight computer commanded all power authority to the engines and it didn't matter what physical position the throttles are moved to."

"At the time of impact with the trees, the pilot had the throttles all the way forward but he didn't know enough about the flight control system to know he needed to depress the GA button to go to manual throttle control. In a Boeing for example, the aircraft he was previously rated in, when you push the GA button, it commands the flight director V-Bars to the proper position on the attitude indicator and automatically advances the throttles if you had the auto-throttles on, or you could move the throttles yourself and you get whatever power you want. If you forgot to depress the GA button, you could still advance the throttles and the engines will still give you the power you're commanding, you just won't have the proper V-Bar indications on the attitude indicator."

"The Airbus is quite different. The throttle isn't connected to a cable so the computer senses movement on the throttle and the computer determines if it's appropriate to give the pilot what he / she is asking for before it moves the actuators and gives you power. Push the right buttons and it will most the time. That's what we teach here at United regarding the consequences of pilot's not knowing the systems they operate."

"Now you know the real story."