Extract below from the BEA's report on the 2008 A320 Air New Zealand accident at Perpignan. Also an excerpt from the CVR transcript covering the last few minutes.
The BEA, on this occasion, seems to have concluded that the THS going to 'full up' made it impossible for the pilots to get out of the stall even with the sidestick fully forward; but that the pilots apparently simply didn't see the need to re-trim. It also says, rather poignantly, that they
'did not understand the behaviour of the aeroplane' - a point that is very clearly illustrated by the CVR transcript.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the eventual report on AF447 says very similar things.
Full report available for download here.
http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2008/d-la...a081127.en.pdf
The aeroplane rapidly regained speed under the dual effect of the increase in thrust and the pitch-down attitude. Under the combined effect of the thrust
increase , the increasing speed and the horizontal stabilizer still at the pitch-up
stop, the aeroplane was subject to pitch-up moment that the Captain could
not manage to counter, even with the sidestick at the nose-down stop. The
exchanges between the pilots at this time show that they did not understand
the behaviour of the aeroplane. In particular, the aeroplane’s lack of reaction
to the nose-down control input did not draw their attention to the position of
the horizontal stabilizer and the loss of the auto-trim function.
The aeroplane attitude increased sharply and its speed dropped to the point
that rendered it practically uncontrollable, the flight control surfaces becoming
ineffective due to the low speed and the high angle of attack. The aeroplane
stalled again, this time irrecoverably, bearing in mind the aeroplane’s altitude
and without any crew inputs on the trim wheel and the thrust levers.
The loss of control was thus caused by a thrust increase performed with a
full pitch-up horizontal stabilizer position. This position and the engine
thrust made pitch down control impossible. It should be noted that the PF
made no inputs on the horizontal stabilizer nor reduced the thrust and that
the PNF did not intervene.
15 h 44 min 46 Okay here we go
15 h 44 min 49 Und ich sag ihr jetzt dass wir im Moment in Dreitausend bleiben
The weight is fifty four
And I say now to her that we are maintaining three thousand at the moment
15 h 44 min 51 Golf X-ray Lima triple eight
Tango can you speed reduce speed again
15 h 44 min 56 We are reducing
15 h 44 min 57 Triple click
15 h 44 min 58 ��We are still reducing the speed Golf X-ray Lima triple eight Tango (*)
15 h 45 min 03 (*) I will say when the trim stops
The word “stops” is stronger than the rest of the phrase
15 h 45 min 05 SV: Stall ( x13)
Cricket (stall warning)
15 h 45 min 06 Stop ! Noise similar to thrust levers being moved forward to the stop
15 h 45 min 13 (oh oh oh)
15 h 45 min 18 (…)
15 h 45 min 19 End of stall warning
15 h 45 min 20 Single chime
15 h 45 min 24 Ich nehm die Speed noch mal hoch ja?
(I increase speed ) Yeah?
15 h 45 min 26 Ja it's pitching up all the time
15 h 45 min 27 (…) Stick forward (*)
15 h 45 min 29 Pitching up
15 h 45 min 30
15 h 45 min 31 It’s (*) alpha floor we’re in manual Single chime
15 h 45 min 33 It's pitching up this (…)
15 h 45 min 34 Kriegst du das geregelt? Are you able to handle this?
15 h 45 min 35 Nee No
15 h 45 min 36 Gear up SV: Stall (12 times)
15 h 45 min 37 Gear up Cricket (stall warning)
15 h 45 min 39 Gear up Gear up
15 h 45 min 40 (*)
15 h 45 min 42 (…)
15 h 45 min 44 (…)
15 h 45 min 45
15 h 45 min 47
15 h 45 min 48
Golf X-ray Lima triple eight
Tango contact tower one one eight decimal three bye
End of stall warning
Single chime
15 h 45 min 54 What’s wrong here
15 h 45 min 55 Flaps up
15 h 45 min 57 (*)
15 h 45 min 58 Flaps up
15 h 46 min 00 End of stall warning
15 h 46 min 00,5(*)
Continuous repetitive chime
15 h 46 min 02 Speedbrakes
15 h 46 min 02,5 End of CRC
15 h 46 min 03 C chord (Altitude alert)
15 h 46 min 04
SV: (*) terrain terrain
15 h 46 min 05 (…) (…)
15 h 46 min 06
15 h 46 min 07 End of recording