JD-ee:
How many UAV get plinked from the ground?
Well, given the dozens of various types and models, and operating parameters ... some are harder to deal with from the ground than others. I am guessing Global Hawk is pretty safe from ground fire.
For every innovation people eventually come up with a counter.
@ RAT 5
I've not read the whole thread, or report yet. However, there are many references here to lack of airspeed. Surely there was a ground speed readout. Thus there was not a total loss of speed indication.
This sub topic has been going on in each AF 447 thread.
The aircraft flies within the fluid medium, fluid being air. To see how important this is, try this exercise on your Ground Speed suggestion:
Fly a Cessna 172 at 100 kts IAS into a forty knot head wind.
GS ~ 60 knots.
Turn 180 degrees and try to fly at 60 knots
using your ground speed as a reference.
Did you stall, or not?
It's much easier to do in a Jet Ranger, eh?
Even more interesting, take your Airbus A330 into an approach for landing at 155 knots, flying into a 40 knot head wind, using your ground speed for reference.
Do a touch and go.
Perform a tear type turn drop and then fly an approach to the same runway, opposite direction,
using your ground speed as your speed reference ... and fly that 115 knots ground speed all the way to touchdown.
The landing might be firm, eh?
Possibly short as well.
It seems to me that the point of the UAS drill in the A330 QRH is as follows:
There are charts for known best estimate pitch and power combinations, which will suffice (if you remember them) until you open the QRH and sweeten your pitch and power to match the closest number to "perfect" that will work to keep you in the safe operating zone until your pitot tubes, or you static ports, or whatever, unscrew themselves and airspeed indication returns to normal.
This "groundspeed" solution appears to me a solution in search of a problem, though I do understand the new feature in the A380 (an option) uses inertial inputs to aid in such situations.
From my PoV, over engineering.