Which High Angle of Attack protection indicates that the aircraft is not in any protective mode?

The essence of High Angle of Attack (AoA) protection on the A320 pertains to the system’s ability to prevent stalls and maintain flight safety by automatically managing the aircraft's attitude in high AoA scenarios. When the aircraft is not in any protective mode, it essentially indicates that the high AoA protections that would typically engage to mitigate the risks associated with excessive nose-up attitudes – Alpha Prot and Alpha Floor – are inactive.

In this condition, the aircraft has not engaged any safeguarding mechanisms that would automatically limit the AoA or the throttle, meaning the pilot is solely responsible for managing the aircraft within safe operational limits without any automatic interventions. This status can occur during normal flight conditions where the aircraft is operating well below stall angles and therefore does not require protection.

Alpha Prot is a protective mode that engages when the aircraft approaches a critical angle of attack, allowing for better control and preventing stalling. Alpha Floor, on the other hand, is an automatic thrust setting that engages when the aircraft is at risk of stalling and the pilot does not pull back on the thrust levers enough to maintain a safe AoA. Alpha Max indicates the maximum allowable AoA before reaching a stall.

Thus, indicating that no high AoA protections are active means that the aircraft