Been BZ looking at the Indonesian crash, so not much to contribute here until last two pages ( GASP! world record for posts RE a single crash, ya think?).
Doze has it nailed. Period.
@ Wolf
Our problem in the Viper was we could not command nose down once we exceeded the magic 27 deg AoA limiter by zooming up and having speed decay faster than the FBW system could compensate for. The HS was already at the maximum( leading edge full up to keep AoA under 27 deg), but the pitch moment was such that nose down commands didn't work. So we settled into a fairly comfortable deep stall. The AF jet did the same thing except it wasn't a "deep stall", it was "deeply" stalled.
Back to Doze....
So we saw the AF jet get into the stall the same way we did.
Hold the nose up and at such a steep angle that you run outta those "lifties" before the system can command enough nose down pitch moment. Remember that we flew at a much further aft cee gee than the 'bus. Not having the AoA being used by HAL contributes to the problem, otherwise HAL would have commanded nose down regardless of the SS position/command, just like the Viper. Not so with the 'bus. The PF still had the ability to command nose up when the "protections" should not have allowed an excessive AoA.
I go with some of the other folks here with "light" experience, that the AoA doofer works very well even at low speeds, and I don't recall seeing any speeds below 100 knots or so.
I think the control laws may be under scrutiny by the accident board in this regard, and I would move to use AoA sensors as long as they were not frozen or were way outta agreement with each other. Ours were used/displayed even with WOW, but the speed display quit about 60 knots!!! Hmmmm, same number as the 'bus, and I'll link my LEF failure video so you can see the AoA bracket "cage" as I slowed down on the runway.
If anyone wants to see the video, chime in here.
Last edited by gums; 17th May 2012 at 15:16.