Manual Spoiler deployment?
Well, speedbrakes in the Bus in flap full is inhibited anyways. Only the auto gnd spoilers or the reverser-activated gnd spoiler is possible and require idle thrust and weight on wheels.
Would it help? Well, it took 11 secs for them to start braking. That's 770m gone... and potentially it's 770m gone before they put the spoilers out manually (if that feature was enabled)... Would they have stopped? Well with wet and/or 1/4 inch standing water, doing that with both engines into reverser, can result in excursion at anywhere between 5 - 80 kts. My opinion for this matter is, it's a nice option to have, but in the case of TAM, it would have still yielded excursion of >5kts and they'll end up on the road below instead of the building.
I completely disagree that the Bus is unsafe due to the gotchas and the no manual gnd spoiler deployment and the thrust lock etc... But the solution is simple, like ALL pax jetplanes, when about to touchdown, bring BOTH levers to idle!
I personally prefer Boeing's methods, but that doesn't mean the Bus ain't safe. Follow the SOPs correctly and they're all safe! Start missing things and you're already in that downward spiral towards disaster.
This whole accident has nothing to do with the bus' automation taking it away from the pilots, it's actually caused by the aircraft "giving it back to the pilot".
Back to the BOAC vs Lemurian discussions.
Bringing throttles to idle (all of them), is so intuitive that perhaps many have overlooked on what happens when one doesn't? What does the provision in Boeing do? As said, if it takes 11 secs for one to realize the gravity of the situation, spoilers wouldn't help, by then, retarding all engines and even the #2 reversers magically popping open wouldn't save the day!
The crux of the matter is, what happens when you don't bring both to idle? The problem here is not the aircraft systems, but the recommended procedures used.
With the previous landing in POA indicating both TLs selected into reverse, and the previous landing into CGH indicating only 1 TL into reverse, it shows that the diversity in the manipulation of the TLs is open enough to risk that a TL would be left in CLB... and someone here already claimed they experienced that!
As shown by the AF744 in Faaa mishap, Boeing too has the "throttles to idle or reverse otherwise you're screwed" methodology.
How much time do you need to realize the spoilers did not deploy be it in a Boe or a Bus? And how much time can one need when you're not quite with it?
I went on a 734 ride the other week into JOG (where everyone fears overrunning!)... 1st flight of the day for the crew. Touchdown and... spoilers nada! It took them 5 secs from spoilers nada to deciding to manually deploy spoilers THEN apply reversers. That's 350m down the drain. In the end, they just went... "down... spoilers nada... STOPPING! Reversers... spoilers deployed"...
That took, 3 secs... 210m down the drain.
They took the "bus method" on the last landing, sure, it was less runway wasted prior to commencing effective deceleration, BUT, it's open to risks similar the TAM 320 case.
I personally prefer the checking of spoilers prior to reverser deployment (ie: commitment to stop), but the Bus doesn't... it goes "select reverserS immediately", and it says "both reversers"... why? It is to reduce the risk of exactly what happened in TAM@CGH.
believe that according to the FDR, the pilot(s)' first step was to recycle the spoiler switch. That's pretty strong evidence that (having got reverse thrust) they thought that they had a spoiler malfunction. As to immediate braking, you'll know better than I - but my understanding is that applying the brakes at 140 knots would have been next to useless (and could very well have caused more problems than it solved).
Whereas bringing BOTH to reverse would have deployed the spoilers regardless if they were armed or not.
This is a case if "because the runway's a bit risky in such a condition, let's start doing non-SOPs"... which in the end opens them to greater risk!
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Avionista,
That scenario is possible although HIGHLY UNLIKELY... you gotta be an unlucky sod to end up in that situ.