Originally Posted by
atakacs
Bad data is indeed a problem with any FBW design. Not sure if there is really a way around it or if it is the price to pay for advanced flight automation.
Firstly, remember that FBW and automation are two different things. Non-FBW aircraft such as the B757 (Birgenair) and B767 (Lauda Air) have been lost when bad data was supplied to the automation.
@CONF - I'm not in denial - the alpha protections follow pilot input up until the point safety boundaries are reached and will maintain that, in much the same manner as the T7 will progressively counter input through the force-feedback. Of course, as the Mach number increases, the pitch down will also increase, but it's not going to suddenly force the aircraft into a significant dive, in fact it won't descend at all if corrective action is taken.
This recent modification seems to have been an attempt to counter the risk of icing of the AoA vanes, and it would appear that a set of circumstances outside of the certification testing have shown the fix to be inappropriate.