Originally Posted by
Mesabah
The assumption is that if the aircraft had been barking airspeed constantly, the Colgan crew would have not taken the airplane to the shaker, and beyond. The Captain pushed the power to the 70 degree point, the pusher then broke the stall, but the FO put the flaps to 0. Clearly, the startle factor with confusion, was an issue in this accident.
For reasons of mitigating inadvertent activation, the stick shaker margin has been significantly reduced from its original design. In fact, in the patent, the auto-pilot was to remain on, and do the recovery procedure, not the pilot.
The pusher didn't really break the stall - the CA fought it and won. 160lbs is pretty much a full panic pull. I don't think he knew he was fighting the stick pusher, I believe he thought he was fighting aerodynamic forces.
After the first stick pusher activation, the captain applied a
41-pound pull force to the control column, and the roll angle reached 105° right wing down.
After the second stick pusher activation, the captain applied a 90-pound pull force, and the roll
angle reached about 35° left wing down and then 100° right wing down. After the third stick
pusher activation, the captain applied a 160-pound pull force.