There seems to be an enormous amount of b#ll#cks being written here about the Habsheim A320 accident, from people who should know better.
Some salient points, then:
The crew though they were at 100', but were actually at around 30', due to a
failure of the altimeter system - hence their inability to clear the trees.
The captain had disconnected the autothrottles, and therefore had no alpha floor protection (maybe an Airbus pilot could comment on that, I don't know the type).
The reports of an independent air accident investigator, Ray Davies, cast doubt on whether the DFDR information that was included in the report was in fact from the DFDR that was on the accident aircraft. He also found disturbing evidence of a disagreement between the Captains pitch commands and the resultant elevator angle... I remember at the time of the two C4 programmes on the subject, it was suggested that some of the protections had been disabled to allow the display at all, and that the unusual configuration resulted in an incorrect pitch command by the computers. If you want to read more, a basic account can be found at
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/hise/safety...2002/0466.html
I remember at the time, the somewhat pompous Bernard Zeigler (AAI boss at the time), demonstrating an A320 (at altitude) in landing and GA modes, and saying that "it cannot be the aircraft, therefore it was the pilots fault".
I also seem to recall that the pilot concerned ended up in Australia, not prison (although many would say it is the same thing
) having had his French licence revoked on psychological grounds (presumably for questioning the reliability of the Airbus).
In any case, the whole affair stunk of corruption in high places, and a massive cover-up. I still have both C4 programmes on video, they make chilling viewing.
Anyway, my point is, check your facts before spouting such rubbish on PPRuNe.