Civilian FBW before 1983?
Sorry, Bellerophon, you have the advantage on me, and I give up. Which 4-engined passenger jet are you referring to? I think it may have been possible (but forbidden) to select reverse in the air on some 1960s/70s types, but FBW on all surfaces?
Hi, eagle21, I agree the A320 and descendants are not perfect. The sidestick has limitations (e.g., you can easily command some pitch accidentally when you only want roll). With autothrottle, I never did like the non-driven throttle levers, even after 13 years of flying them (although they are brilliant in manual thrust). But the overall package takes a lot of beating.
I hope the Boeing drivers/engineers will not overlook my request for a comparison between B777 and A340/A330 logic in the weight-switches-broken-on-landing scenario.