Posted by jimjim1
So:- the THS and auto trim had NO BEARING AT ALL on this incident. Nil, null, zip, nada.
Exactly, at last someone has noticed the absolute irrelevence of much that has been posted about this accident, particularly concerns about autotrim and alleged skittishness of 'manual' control at high altitude. All these would be appropriate to a conventional aircraft controlled in a conventional way, but the Airbuses after the A320 are NOT conventional in their control systems, and as jimjim says the sidestick commands g. And it is a confessed non-pilot who has to point this out. One minor quibble
maintains constant g (hence absent other inputs - pitch attitude)
is only true if the AT is maintaining speed correctly, if the thrust is insufficient for the drag, the speed will reduce and the controls will maintain g by increasing pitch attitude until... stall, which is what happened here. You can argue whether this is a good way to control the aircraft, but the first duty of anyone flying one is to understand this crucial point. Clearly the AF447 crew, and many others posting here, don't.