Originally Posted by sensor_validation
Takata - wouldn't the RAT have deployed with no engines (but of course would have been no use with no airflow) - the picture of it on the seabed suggests to me it was still inside its closed doors. Engines run on the ground or in testbeds without airspeed, wouldn't a modern FADEC with sensitive surge protection managing fuel flow maintain operation even where there is not enough air massflow/density to attempt re-light? And if engines not stalled at altitude why would they with increasing air density below 6000ft?
Previous posts suggest rate of fall fully stalled would be much greater than 6000ft/min, so a single event would have to have started later/higher, but could still end 2:14:30.
Thank you for your reply but the main issue I'm dealing with is that there was nothing sent, at least, about any engine stalling during the whole ACARS sequence from 02:10 to 02:14:30.
Hence, I'm quite far from being convinced that this airframe could have been for any length of time "fully stalled" (flat/ spin/ spiral/ whatever) during this particular time window without triggering a related ECAM warnings about some power plant issues due to abnormal attitude (outside her flight enveloppe, as it is the definition for an upset)
The full list of the related engine ECAM warnings is too long to be listed but there are some which are quite telling in this particular case:
. ENG THRUST LOSS
. ENG 1 (2) STALL
. ENG 1 (2) FAIL
. ENG ALL ENG FLAME OUT
Only the last one might be retained in the pipe as the ACARS would subsequently become inop due to SATNAV shutdown.
Moreover, A/THR was lost from the start, and the FADEC was also compromised by air data issues (as the ADRs are also playing their part in her runing cruise configuration). Then, any engine management after 02:10 would have been deprived of any automation able to optimise her power plants if there was a simultaneous full loss of control situation.
So, what I'm saying is that it is quite surprising that she could have dropped out of the sky at 02:14:30 while her engines were constantly monitored and given as operating inside a "normal" enveloppe up to this point.