Originally Posted by
Right Way Up
Resetting FACs by CB inflight......not sure I have seen that written down anywhere?
Spot on. UPRT training (or lack of) is a red herring. Better UPRT could have allowed the crew to recover but there was no reason for the aircraft to end up in that position in the first place.
By use of this non standard cb reset on BOTH FACs, this crew (for whatever reason) put the a/c into ALTN LAW and their inputs subsequently put it into a position from which they could not recover.
In fact, not only is the FAC reset not included in the computer reset QRH table, the table also says (in a big red box) - WARNING DO NOT RESET MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER AT A TIME.
The RTLU fault is a non event. Following the ECAM drill would have stopped the nuisance cautions and the a/c would have been Cat 3A and perfectly flyable. Unless you need Cat 3B, why even try a reset? Especially after 3 previous faults that flight?
The aircraft remained perfectly flyable even after the crew actions disabled the FACs and after they lost control - at this point, UPRT became a potential factor - primarily for the FO though as it appears the CA was trying to make appropriate inputs to recover.
Ultimately though, if the crew had done nothing about the minor RTLU fault, the aircraft would not have crashed.