Originally Posted by
Tester78
In a calm atmosphere, and with a smooth deceleration, Alpha Max will be accurately captured and then maintained at full aft stick. In real life, especially after a sudden pull (GPWS pull-up, for example) some gentle variation will occur until everything settles down...
Indeed - in the case of AF296, what you had was a rushed approach (caused in part by inadequate preparation and briefing materials on the part of the airline) coupled with poor thrust and speed management, likely because of the rushed approach and the decision to do so instead of circling and trying again. The poor thrust management then led to poor altitude management (descending below 100ft RA), and with the stick all the way back throughout the flypast to maintain the altitude they had, there was no way of getting more lift until the engines spooled back up.
@John Farley - in the A330 FCTM linked above (from 2005), the peak is simply labelled "Stall", as you suggest.
