Originally Posted by
Mad (Flt) Scientist
Omitting either part of the "ideal" gives a potential for poor feedback, and possible handling issues; I'm not sure the balance of advantage lies with either approach.
Ditto, and as the only way to make a manual system work on an aircraft of that size would be to fit pilots with cybernetic legs there's always going to be that trade-off.
Misd-again: Regardless of the cost angle, Airbus do have a point about fewer moving parts meaning lower failure rate though, and that's an engineering fact - the biggest example in aviation being the move from piston to jet engines.