Human Factors
Blue/Brown. Neither color is reliable to show the Angle of attack, although at first, Pitch was not unreasonable. The BEA language make it unclear whether the ship climbed prior to, or after the ten degree 'plateau' right after manual control.
That is not to say the data are wrong, only that the Pilot was flying, not the autopilot. For all, did he realize LAW had degraded? The first we know the lack of NORMAL was at 2:10:22. Virtually all his experience was non ALTLAW, and STALL had been trained sporadically, without a syllabus that included High altitude upset leading to STALL. Say what you will, and the evidence is damning surely, but the fulcrum of recovery was immediate and positive reaction to manual control.
NOT ALTERNATE LAW. I must disagree with no less than PJ2. The ROLL was 'part of', not a singular challenge. We have the benefit of nearly three years of perusal. The Flying Pilot had one second. Well and good to frame the discussion based on trickle down data, and that parsed; we appear to have relinquished our initial hold on objectivity. The passage of time does not change History; it changes only opinions.
mm43. What about that 1.5g 'load'? I believe the report was 1.65g, and my question is how did it increase that high? Doesn't the Bus protect PITCH with One G commands?
Similarly, a maneuvering aircraft can't be felt in de-brief. Not accurately. ROLLING is a form of UPSET, regardless the parameters. I think that might be what Machinbird is on about. All three axes were quite active, and the a/c was in turbulence. Quoting the book, and emphasizing how 'easy it is' to recover UAS is misleading, borderline dishonest.
I will rely instead on the report of post wreck simm. For one only line pilot to have crashed '447', is too many. For several to have failed remains a benchmark for those who prefer to frame the discussion as problematic, not simplistic.
regards
BTW, re: damage and config. At least one FLAP track is referred to as "extended", in BEA's damage inventory.
It's in there. At some point, did they wish to "recover" the Rudder's authority with a F/S select?