WEIDO SALT
I am not a "fly by wire" man.
What I find disturbing is I have heard from informed sources is this.
"If the computers are knocked out by e.g., a voltage surge or spike, the crew are unable to control the aircraft."
The Titanic? Hmmm... Hasn't it been stated by ABI's the A380 is "uncrashable"? Maybe they might take this opportunity to amend that statement, that reeks of arrogance, a little.
If all the electrics fail and the computers get knocked out, the airbus has a last resort: mechanical back up. It's only desinged to make it possible for the crew to remain straight and level flight, to recover any lost computers. Navigating and flying the aircraft to a safe landing in mechanical back up is probably as difficult as trying to land an aircraft with no flight controls on only it's engines.....
Mechanical back up, would indeed
not give pilots sufficient control in extreme weather and turbulence conditions. Try to fly straight and level in these conditions with full control authority!
As this scenerio has always been waived off as "impossible" it is starting to look like it has indeed now happened... plenty to think about there in Toulouse