How come I read reports of AT failure in the bus causing speed loss, mode reversion and decend, and the flightcrews first discovery is the TA that follows from the aircraft decending onto traffic below?
I eagerly await for the links to the report. Provided it happened as described, the crew involved has some serious problems with basic instrument flying - not noticing speed drop and unwanted descend is something I find it hard to believe professional pilots are capable of. You know, FBW Airbi do have attitude indicator, altimeter, IAS and VSI - just presented a bit differently, compared to classic cockpits. They're not so different to be urecognisable or ambigous, though.
Gretchenfrage and RTO, I assume that by "dead stick" you mean stick that doesn't move with flight controls movement rather than FBW failure. Did I guess it correctly?
And the throttles that doesn't move with autothrust on, where's the problem with that? I mean, does anyone really use thrust levers position as indication of engine thrust, rather than checking N1/EPR? Hopefully not.
Slasher, nothing is to be followed blindly but more often than not ECAM (or even better, QRH) gives the best way to resolve most of the situations. It might be the cultural difference between us, because I wasn't born pilot (let alone Boeing TRed at birth, like you), and had to work long and hard to get into RHS of humble ATR, but with attitudes like "ECAM is crap, QRH is crap" I wouldn't suggest you to take the course. They're not the best possible but they're the best we have and not using them is not an option.