Farrell;
Quote:
Theoretically no, but in the same way a vertical stabiliser can be overloaded a FBW airbus in Normal Law can be stalled.
Thank you Gaston.
The Airbus protection systems are still, in some cases, wildly misunderstood by users and non-users alike.
Caution,
I think there are two meanings of "stall" at work here.
The second meaning, referencing the horizontal stab, usually means that the hydraulic motor driving the screw-jack that changes the position of the horizontal stabilizer is stalled. When this happens it is usually through very high air loads; it has nothing
directly to do with the first meaning of the word, "stall" which means loss of lift due to high angle of attack.
Indirectly, a stabilizer trimmed all the way to its max Nose UP [NU] position through whatever system fault or pilot input etc, can cause (and has caused) a stall, given other things being equal such as normal CofG, control authority of the elevators, applied level of engine thrust with under-slung engines, etc.
In Normal Law the A320/A330/A340/A380 series cannot normally be stalled. But with
sufficient abuse of the controls, (
as used here that word is a technical term and is not intended as a criticism of the recent post describing this - I thought that was a helpful post in raising this point), an airplane is just a brick when the air isn't flowing around it happily and will fall out of the sky, "normal laws" notwithstanding.
The airplane and the design obviously aren't miracle-workers which defy either logic or natural laws such as gravity, mass and inertia but once in a while this needs re-stating; they are commercial airplanes and such designs are always...always compromises. In other words, try to do a
Lomcovák-type maneuver, (you can't...too much mass, not enough control authority and no big recips to "help"!, but the point is made...), and no "Normal Law" will protect the airplane.
That is where much of the confusion (and bias against) regarding the design emerges.
Lemurian, thanks; I certainly suspected that that was the case, but if someone has a handle called "
A330first-officer" one expects that poster knows his stuff and posts with knowledge that has been confirmed first.
PJ2