No, I've never operated a 411A - but I have operated many similar CE types. When public confidence was severly injured by a number of bad crashes of the 411A due to poor engine reliability and inadequate single engine controlability. Cessna got the F100 (SuperSabre) test pilot to fly an engine failure profile in one as the whole thing was videoed. He crashed the aircraft on final approach. This led to the ultimate demise of the 411A and the development of the much better 421.
Yes, the 411A was a rubbish aircraft - Aviation Consumer said "..we would hesitate to even get in a C411A..."
The A320 series, however, has demonstrated and contiues to demonstrate excellent flying qualities and a fantastic safety record. When all the chaps here talk about 'being unable to override a computer' I am not sure that everybody understands the FBW fundementals. The FBW is normally quite passive - achieving the desired performance by sublty altering control surface deflection (as I said before yaw dampers and rudder ratio units have done this for years and every Boeing around has a fistful of them). The ONLY time that the system becomes 'invasive' is at the performance and structural limit of the envelope - for example at extreme angles of attack where it will maintain maximum alpha with the sidestick fully back or at the G-limit of the airframe thus enabling the pilot to be brutal with the controls but without causing damage to the aircraft.
In summary, the FBW 'limits' are there to make it easy for the 'average pilot' to derive MAXIMUM performance from the aircraft in an emergency situation such as a GPWS alert or in windshear without having to have superhuman piloting abilities.
The situation with L80 Standard ELAC has proven that in ONE very unusal case on an aircraft with ONE VERSION of a flight control computer limited pitch authority occured. Without this it is entirely possible that the aircraft may have stalled on approach with a very different outcome but this is one hypothesis too far.
For the record, I am glad that 411A will not be travelling on any Airbus types - it will severely limit his ability to bother the rest of the planet with hs nonsense and rubbish.
My best regards to all the professionals on this site.
[This message has been edited by M14P (edited 04 June 2001).]