Originally Posted by bubbers44
I can not imagine flying an airliner that by a glitch in the system could take away the brakes so am sure airbus doesn't either.
That appears to have been the position up to 2005, bubbers44. Though one hopes that it has been sorted out by now. To quote, Prof. Ladkin (from that report on the Cardiff/Ibiza incidents I linked to):-
"What will have then happened is that the hot channel, Channel 2, will have relinquished control to the standby, Channel 1, which will have logged the same fault, but cannot relinquish control since it is operating without a standby. On sensing touchdown ("Weight on Wheels"), four seconds after the spoiler deployment signal, the Autobrake function of the BSCU calls the command function to apply current to open the Normal Selector Valve. The COM/MON disagreement fault becomes a failure; the Normal Selector Valve is not opened, the Autobrake function is lost and the Normal braking system is left inoperative. This is recorded in the CFDIU as a failure in the NSVs (although the actual failure was upstream), yet it is sent to the ECAM as a "BRAKES AUTO BRK FAULT" message, which is inhibited from display during landing until engine shut down (but is recorded for post-flight replay). So the crew never saw it --it was not there to be seen."
As far as I can work out (such technical knowledge as I have is in another field) at that time any problem with the 'Anti-Skid and Nosewheel Steering' showed up only as a 'STEERING' warning. Cycling the switch removed the warning; but it ALSO cancelled the autobrake setting, and there was no warning message about that.
So the pilots, on discovering that the autobrake wasn't working, went for manual braking - but, as Prof. Ladkin says, "
The COM/MON disagreement fault becomes a failure; the Normal Selector Valve is not opened, the Autobrake function is lost and the Normal braking system is left inoperative."
The solution (which the pilot at Cardiff realised just in time) was to turn off the 'Anti-Skid' as well - but, given that the systems at that time did not provide any sort of warning, it's just as well that he had enough runway left finally to brake to some sort of halt.
As I said, though, you'd hope that any such possible 'glitch' would have been sorted out by now?