The Airbus fly-by-wire system isn't quite as new as they'd have you believe. Much of the concept was proved on Concorde which had been flying safely for many years prior to the development of the A320. I think Conc may even have non-moving thrust levers just like the bus, and one of the initial Concorde prototpyes had a sidestick. The 'John Wayne' accidents were just caused by bad flying. If you can't tell the difference between a 3 degree descent path and a 3000fpm descent rate then you're asking for trouble!