From the
Colgan Buffalo accident thread:
Originally Posted by Mansfield
To this we can add a concept that I once termed "automated interference with basic airmanship". During the Roselawn investigation, we determined that the upset initiated when the flaps were retracted following the overspeed warning during the descent. The captain was heard on the CVR to say "I knew we'd do that" in reference to the overspeed warning.
We found the flap handle in the wreckage selected to flaps 15. Simple good airmanship told the crew to restore the configuration to where it was before the upset initiated. Unfortunately, ATR at that time had a system in place that prevented the flaps from extending when the airpeed was beyond the appropriate speed limit. Had this not been in place, there is a chance that a recovery might have been completed.
As the full report is not available from NTSB site, (and given the findings listed, some embarrasment to NTSB might have been avoided this way) I'd like to ask anyone who remembers ATR from times after the Roselawn if this system was really installed on ATRs. I'm pretty sure that there was not a trace of it when I started flying ATR42 in 2001.