M14P, Frederick and Oilhead,
1. I don't read the Daily Mail!
2. I believe you get me wrong here.
Of course no a/c will be ever a 100 % failsafe and there are numerous things the engineers and with AI specially software designers could not think about at the time of designing their blueprints. That's okay and nobody blames anybody for that.
BUT:
once a glitch or serious item has been identified, I expect from a key player like Boeing or Airbus to inform the rest of the community in an appropriate and timely manner. A simple bulletin, describing the facts of the incident will do it and subsequently everybody out there will try to avoid it. So here we have a case of a serious design deficency which was never adressed since the first FBW Airbus had been built a decade ago.
And it applies to the entire family (320,330, 340).
The AI design tends to give pilots and even some mechanics a wrong impression of precission and safety. Sitting in the cockpit you can't see all surface deflection, while you perform your flight control check. The SOP says PF performs the stick inputs, PNF checks the ECAM and then vice versa. So everybody tends to believe what is indicated on the screen is correct and corresponds with the actual deflection.
I recall a daily proceedure with my former European airline where the flight controls were checked every morning before the first flight with a mechanic outside the a/c, hooked into the intercom. Some egghead found out that this delays the operation by 6 minutes and since it is not performed any more...
- I wonder how the folks in Seattle have resolved the issue with their B777, but I tend to believe such a glitch can't happen here, at least it would be sensed and a warning triggered.
But this is really not that important.Let's face it: It is the "ATTITUDE" of Airbus Industrie, gentlemen!
When it comes down the line I don't see a "responsible reaction" in dealing with their product. In the past they were pretty fast in blaming the pilots for each and every mishap (latest was the Northwest A 320 take-off accident at Detroit some weeks back) instead of turning their attention inside and ask themselves: "what could we do to avoid this situation in the future?".
When it comes to information in terms of product support you get a bunch of pages, revisions and so forth on lavatory lights and other stuff I don't consider as important for flying the a/c, but you won't get a bulletin stating the incident, the findings, what really happened inside their computer brains and what you should try to avoid.
We all know that safety in our job is the no 1 priority and everybody tries to perform at his best. This includes prevention and the tool for prevention is information. I believe the industry has a massive problem, when it comes to this.
Have a good one