If it is indeed a flat spin, normally just a hard pitch down and flaps works to get you out of one. 🙂 Trust me, I’ve done so many on purpose…
It could also be that there were gusts that the autopilot overcorrected for. I’ve had this happen only once or twice where the autopilot puts the plane out of control and the plane stalls due to high pitch up angle and falls. It was easily recoverable with a typical non-Airbus stall recovery though (pitch down, TO/GA thrust and praying to the gods of flight) so this probably wasn’t your problem.
EDITed to add:
The Airbus stall technique I was talking about involved TO/GA thrust and a slight pitch up with the stick. This however only works in Normal Law where the FBW will not allow the aircraft to enter a full stall and the increased thrust will allow the plane to fly out of it.
However, in a full stall where the plane goes into Alternate Law, the technique is as follows:
As soon as any stall indication (could be aural warning, buffet…) is recognized, apply the immediate actions :
- NOSE DOWN PITCH CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . APPLY
This will reduce angle of attack
Note: In case of lack of pitch down authority, reducing thrust may be necessary
- BANK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WINGS LEVEL
• When out of stall (no longer stall indications) :
- THRUST . . . . . . . . . . . INCREASE SMOOTHLY AS NEEDED
Note: In case of one engine inoperative, progressively compensate the thrust asymmetry with rudder
- SPEEDBRAKES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHECK RETRACTED
- FLIGHT PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RECOVER SMOOTHLY
• If in clean configuration and below 20 000 feet :
- FLAP 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SELECT
Note: If a risk of ground contact exists, once clearly out of stall (no longer stall indications), establish smoothly a positive climb gradient.
(thx to pprune for this)