posted on Jun, 7 2009 @ 06:49 AM
I'm a Boeing man, so I don't know a whole lot about Airbus FBW systems, however I'll attempt to answer... If the sensors begin to produce varying
and incorrect data, then the computers will detect this and switch from NORMAL LAW to ALTERNATE LAW - which is what actually happened.
In Alternate Law...
- The airplane CAN be stalled in Alternate Law.
- A nose up command is introduced any time the airplane exceeds VMO/MMO to keep the speed from increasing further, which CAN be overridden by the
sidestick.
www.airbusdriver.net...
en.wikipedia.org...
So no the pilots wouldn't of been prevented from doing much. However, if the pilots were still reading the same incorrect data, or the plane was
already in trouble before it switched to alternate law, then the bad data may be a cause for the crash.
Can someone please tell these news agencies to hire aerospace professionals and stop reading aviation message boards, cherry picking the most
sensational answers they can find? I recommend everyone to use Flight Global and Aviation Week as a news source...
[edit on 7/6/2009 by C0bzz]