Alexban, I was in Pittsburgh the night that flight 427 crashed. It was an airplane I had flown. It only takes one to kill you. It is fixed, but not quite all the way fixed. I have also known two other piltos who had rudder hardovers in 737s.
We never stuffed passengers in the airbus like that, but I could routinely get the 319 stopped in under 3000'
As far as clearing the obstacles, generally we planned the aircraft weight and performance to do that, whatever the airplane.
Either airplane will "fly itself" if you want, you can also fly either airplane too.
The comfort of the airbus cockpit is beyond the table, but I would still fly the 737 if it paid more or got me a better schedule.
I spent about 4 years flying the bus and flew with one pilot on it who didn't like it. Most guys who don't like the bus never flew it. I flew with lots of people who disliked the 737, mostly for its lousy working environment. It is just a tool, not a religion. Now big planes, Boeings are superior. But the 737 suffers from the fact that you are sitting in the nose of an airplane that was designed about 50 years ago. (KC 135) There have been some improvements since then.