Red Bull – the Dark Side

I came across this item in the normal course of research.  Put yourself, if you will, in the place of a nervous air passenger with a window seat on this flight:

On 24 September 1994, TAROM Flight 381, an Airbus A310 (YR-LCA) flying from Bucharest to Paris Orly, went into a sudden and un-commanded nose-up position and stalled. The crew attempted to countermand the plane’s flight control system but were unable to get the nose down while remaining on course. Witnesses saw the plane climb to a tail stand, then bank sharply left,

 then right, then fall into a steep dive. Only when the dive produced additional speed was the crew able to recover steady flight. An investigation found that an overshoot of flap placard speed during approach, incorrectly commanded by the captain, caused a mode transition to flight level change. The auto-throttles increased power and trim went full nose-up as a result. The crew attempt at commanding the nose-down elevator could not counteract effect of stabilizer nose-up trim, and the resulting dive brought the plane from a height of 4,100 ft at the time of the stall to 800 ft when the crew was able to recover command. The plane landed safely after a second approach. There were 186 people aboard.

I would so like to meet with one of those 186 passengers, just to find out if they have ever flown since……