Originally Posted by
roulishollandais
Magic stall protection pushed these pilots who where able to avoid stall by their traditional learning to put themselves and the SLF in the mouth of the wulf...
The airmanship stuff is true, and I wholeheartedly agree with that, but the above statement is not.
Asseline's own words indicate that Airbus's test pilots only performed the Alpha Max manoeuvre with *other pilots* on board over the Toulouse region (and probably the French Alps as well), which would have necessitated a much higher altitude than 100ft RA. Thanks to alonso1986's detective work, we've seen a video of their chief test pilot demonstrating the technique, again at a much higher altitude. Some displays were flown by Airbus test pilots at or near 100ft RA (though no lower), but I'd be prepared to wager that none of those flights were carrying pax.
Neither Airbus nor AF mandated that the Habsheim flight demonstrate Alpha Max at 100ft RA, and given his confidence on the CVR prior to the accident I wouldn't be surprised if it was Asseline himself who likely suggested doing so. If this was the case, regardless of where he got that level of confidence from, the responsibility for the decision to perform that manouevre that low and with pax on board must ultimately rest with him. The poor level of preparation can largely be laid at AF's door, however - as we've discussed - Asseline could have used his airmanship and judgement to improve safety margins at several points during the flight, which he did not.
For all his words about prior Airbus FBW demonstrations, as far as I know the fact remains that he was the only pilot who ever attempted that technique at an altitude that low with no prior recce and with pax on board. That he still can't accept that this was shaving the safety margins far too close continues to astonish me.
@CONF iture - We've been over this several times. 17.5deg AoA is the absolute value for Alpha Max. The FCOM not only does not give specific quantitative values on the graph, it states in black and white that with full back stick, Alpha Max "
may be achieved". Not "will be", much less "will immediately be" - and we've had input from engineers involved with the programme as well as line pilots who, like Asseline, were A320 "early adopters" giving very useful input as to why that is.
I know you harbour an argument that Asseline could, given direct elevator control, have finessed the aircraft over the trees, but given the slipshod approach to the flypast as a whole I have to argue that this is highly unlikely (particularly with no AoA gauge fitted to the aircraft).
The FCS did prevent stall, *because the aircraft did not stall*.