Originally posted by Machinbird...
...the autotrim you know and love in Normal law is not the same autotrim in certain critical respects when in ALT2 law.
Are you implying a suspicion that Auto Trim was misbehaving in ALT2, i.e. the systems functioned in a degraded manner as per the XL Airways / Air NZ A320 accident?
On approach to stall and taking into account the dynamic of the flight and of the complexity of the displays, the automatic changes in the control laws can fail to be perceived and their consequences can sometimes be misunderstood by pilots. In this case, the passage to direct law rendered the auto-trim function inoperative. Even if the amber USE MAN PITCH TRIM flag was displayed on the two PFD artificial horizons, the crew did not notice the position of the stabilizer and did not command the trim wheel manually during the twenty-five seconds in direct law between 15 h 45 min 15 s and 15 h 45 min 40 s. From this time on and for the rest off the flight, as a result of passing into abnormal attitudes law, the amber USE MAN PITCH TRIM flag was no longer displayed. The systems thus functioned in a degraded manner, without the real overall situation of the aeroplane being known by the crew.
I feel that NOT calling and clearing the ECAM messages and following the UAS QRH procedures introduced so much fog into the situation, that a failure to notice the Trim Wheel turning sits equally in this patch of fog.
In short, the Human Factors were dominate in this accident.