It seems to me that the great redundancy of the flight deck is another contributing factor granting them the preference of so many full-freighter companies . It is so true that quite a few of the new cargo ops in Asia have recently choosen the A300-600F, even though the assembly line delivered the last one in july (# 821, if I received the right info). We converted our 1st early this year and are about to convert the other as of february-08. The Dresden EFW "factory" never stops (mainly for FedEx) and did a very nice job on our acft (A300-600R into A300-600RF; when the germans return the acft, it looks like brand-new)...
Just think the manuals could evolve into something more user-friendly, from the classic "telephone guide" size & shape (Lufthansa already does this on their own)...having instructed and checked on Boeings for quite some time, I moved back to the A310/A300-600 family 1.5 yr ago. Great acft, extremely comfortable, mainly for a daily basis (we operate the A300-600RF). But the manuals & documentation are definitely not very good, and the interaction ECAM x QRH ("PROC") might get messy and confusing, sometimes (I instruct both on the sim and on the acft). I see it as an acft where one'd better know very well the checklists and understand the way systems work with much more details than in a Boeing. However, as was very well outlined, it will seldom let you down, provided good maintenance exists.
Nice flights to everyone & Happy Hollidays!!!
