Thanks,
Well, will come to A/THR when you will be back!
So you said: " ELAC makes sure that the aircraft will not go BELOW V.a.prot/max. It is a minimum speed, not really a target speed as such. It will pitch down just enough to maintain the minimum airspeed. No more, no less. It is not a fixed value, and depends on lots of factors.
Say you are climbing really steeply, and the autothrust is already at Climb power, but you are still decelerating. When you reach V.a.prot/max the ELAC will not allow you to climb that steeply, so will lower the nose so you don't go below and stall."
I agree with you - but - I am 99,9% sure that airbus will maintain Vprot after piching down (Flight Detent said it in his previous posts).
---> So I agree with you if A/THR is ON. ELAC will pitch down the aircraft. A/THR (over VLS!), will still try to maintain the target speed. ELAC has been programmed to pitch down at X° if A/THR is ON.
But what if A/THR OFF? We had said that ELAC will MAINTAIN Vprot by pitching down. I don't think it's more complicated. What do you think? Hope it's right...
Kind regards,
A.Roy