PJ2
You have claimed that I, as a member of the group of 'all other posters', hold that the computers somehow prevented the pilots from controlling the a/c in some way.
My position is exactly the opposite. Given the regime at the beginning of the ACARS, a/p flying, cruise alt, pilots monitoring, etc. I have held that given the parameters allowed the a/p, the flight crew were satisfied with the situation (this is of course assumed). The a/c experiences some turbulence or other challenge the a/p is unable to track, and it trips off.
Following directly its disconnect is entry into Alternate Law. It is at this point things begin to go pear, or so we can entertain, given the messages on the data sheet.
In some as yet unknown sequence, multiple failures are reported, and experienced as warnings, flags, and multiple displays. I would suggest that it appears the PF and PNF were 'startled', first by the disconnect, then by the computers programmed responses such that they were possibly overwhelmed; it is at this juncture that an untrained for and (perhaps) deliberately ignored result may have eliminated any possibility of recovery. As per the other (and recent) unreliable AD incidents show, to recover demands a crew be incredibly sharp, profusely trained, and able to selectively ignore some of the computer's conclusions. On this night it wasn't to be, or so we can propose.
As I have said, the Airbus330 is a phenomenal a/c, no one can deny it. What might be lacking is a recognition of, and training for, some blind spots in programming, and a hard look at the imperfections in the interface between FBW and the pilots. As far as that goes, the only real difference so far making the AB unique is Alternate Law; it is as you say quite possible no a/c could have escaped the fate of 447.
Loss of all pitot/statics has been discussed, it might have caused an overreaction in the software (perhaps not), and an underreaction in the pilots. If this is true, we need to put pilot and FBW back on the same page.
cheers, Will
Last edited by Will Fraser; 27th Jun 2009 at 19:21.