Originally Posted by
HundredPercentPlease
Gums,
As I understand it, when designing the A320 Airbus toyed with the idea of reduced stability, citing FBW as the "excuse". The whole world raised a regulatory eyebrow and Airbus designed a fully stable aircraft.
Ironically, Boeing designed a less than stable aircraft with a bit of bolt on, undocumented FBW, and the world continued to rotate, until two crashed.
The 737 is an old generation aircraft with old generation failings, the A320 is not.
Most of the mods carried out on the 737 since it was introduced were to increase its profitability not safety. In fact it could be argued that some of the mods have even reduced its safety. Im sure Boeing are now wishing theyd developed a completely new aircraft instead.