Here we go again.
Nomenclature. First, the A320 "family" does not let the flying pilot put it into a near-stall situation. So the only time you need to recover from a stall is if a gust or some such adverse weather actually stalled the airplane.
What is described by shortfuel and, apparently, the manual designers as "stall recovery" is a set of procedures to be followed
when indications of impending stall are noted (stall warning, buffet). I would prefer to call these by what I take to be the more accurate term "approach-to-stall recovery", amongst other things to avoid confusion over the aerodynamic state of the aircraft in the situation in which they are applied, which confusion occurred most notably in
this thread .
The procedures have apparently recently changed. I have before me a copy of a page from the A330 FCOM for a specific airline from 2009, 3.04.27 P 5a, which describes "STALL WARNING", not stall "recovery". There are two sets of procedures highlighted, but in fact there are three described.
The two highlighted are "At lift-off" and "During any other flight phases after lift-off". The third is at the end: "The aural stall warning may also sound at high altitude, where it warns that the aircraft is approaching the angle of attack for the onset of buffet." All three procedures are different.
For the two highlighted, procedure was:
*Thrust levers to TOGA, and
at the same time
* Pitch attitude to 12.5° (
lift-off) resp. "reduce" (
other phases);
* Roll wings level
* Check speed brakes retracted
For the third, high-altitude, there is a cursive description, not a checklist. The pilot is to reduce back-pressure on the stick, and reduce bank angle if necessary. When the warning stops, the pilot may increase back pressure again, if necessary, to return to the trajectory.
It seems to me that this high-altitude advice is predicated on cruise airspeeds (i.e. between Mach 0.78 and Mach 0.86) and the stall warning being due to manoeuvring and gust encounter at the same time.
I guess recent changes de-prioritised TOGA thrust (thrust modification is not mentioned for the high-altitude case). It may be that results of the investigation into the Perpignan accident influenced the new procedures.
PBL