Originally Posted by
CONF iture
Alpha Max is the limit Airbus gave to its protective system, and they were not fool enough to put that limit on the edge.
If they wanted it on the edge they would have put Alpha Max at Alpha Stall where the lift coefficient is the highest.
Probably not the greatest source, but the best I could find at short notice:
A320 Flight Controls flashcards | Quizlet
Alpha max is the highest alpha that the flight control computers will allow for a given configuration and weight; it provides the max lift coefficient.
For the tailwind ... I don't see where you're going ...
OK, I'll try to illustrate by way of example. As I understand it, a large amount of following airflow can be sufficient to reduce the amount of lift generated by a wing, which is why the third phase of a microburst encounter is just as, if not more, dangerous than the second phase where the downdraught forces the aircraft down. If you have an aircraft with a wing at the max lift coefficient which subsequently encounters a strong airflow from behind, then the lift may no longer be sufficient to keep the aircraft aloft.
If I've got this backwards, fine - but it seems to make sense to me...
[EDIT - I wasn't kidding about going too far off-topic, I really don't want to derail a discussion on an accident where the protections were inhibited by talking about protections...]