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Old 29th May 2011, 08:26
  #808 (permalink)  
abovethesky
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: United States
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To TheShadow:
Your analysis is based on wrong assumptions:

Three questions: 1. "Will the pilot be aware that he's in abnormal Law? (and the portents of that)" The answer might well be: "Probably not" (there's nothing to promote awareness of this being the case i.e. no aural annunciation - and thus we arrive at: what now needs to be done that's essential for recovery?)
They know very well, see the repport.
2. "Does the elevator alone have sufficient authority to unstall the wings at max power or at idle?" The answer is probably not, at least not while the superior trim authority of the THS at 13 degs n/up holds sway.... and particularly not whilst at TOGA power.
3. "Why doesn't the elevator have sufficient authority to unstall?"
The whole design premise of the THS is to reduce trim drag and allow the elevator to become more of an active trim and less of a primary flight control. This ideation works well 99.99% of the time and it's used in all models of airliners to some degree. They need the capability of coping with large CofG ranges to accommodate loading, fuel burn-off and configuration changes. Some aircraft augment this capability with tail-located fuel trim-tanks. However this minimalistic elevator design feature in the A330 apparently won't "work" in the progression of events that AF447 underwent.
The PF didn't even try nose down. He wanted nose up. So all the speculation whether we would have been capable of bringing the nose down (elevator, trim) is mood.

The analysis of Flight Safty makes much more sense.
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