Smilin_Ed,
OK, firstly I was not involved in the design of the FBW systems, but as I've said earlier in the thread, my Software Engineering/Reliability professor was heavily involved in the debate over FBW in airliners back in the late '80s and early '90s. I posted a write-up of his regarding a visit to Toulouse in 1993 a short time ago. I should add that he was very much a sceptic, but it appears he was won over to some degree by that visit - he never stopped asking questions though. On a sadder note, as a result of private communications over this thread I've learned that he passed away a year and a half ago.
Now, regarding what you're saying - the autotrim will only move the THS in Alternate Law if the limit of elevator travel is reached and the pilot continues to demand pitch-up via the sidestick. It is highly unlikely - if not impossible - for an "inadvertent" sidestick deflection to move the THS. It needs to be aggressive and maintained for a period of time. I did confirm this via PM with PJ2 before I put my oar in, so please don't think I haven't done my homework here!
[EDIT - Also, a pilot can disable autotrim no matter what law the aircraft is in simply by moving the manual trim wheel. There seems to be some debate as to how this knowledge is disseminated in line training, but IMO a good pilot should know their aircraft as near inside-out as possible.]
Last edited by DozyWannabe; 13th Jun 2011 at 23:55.