Hi,
Originally Posted by CONF iture
No question, these guys are very competent designers, but the more complex the design , the more chance something unexpected and/or foreseen will eventually present, sooner or later.
The flight envelope protection systems are reliable as long as the numerous sensors send the accurate and real information and also that this information is processed as designed by the different computers ...
But exactly the same thing can be said about the human way of processing informations. Our brain is far more "complex" than computers at analysing those informations transmitted by our senses, and our senses can be abused exactly the same way by any false/distorded information.
Moreover, as far as flying an aircraft is concerned, those basic informations can not be acquired by our senses alone without relying on instrumentation (which may display good or wrong data in particular cases). Consequently, ergonomy (human-machine interface) and crew training are the most important factors as for retrieving any compromised situation where everyone (human and machine) can end confused by unexpected environmental factors.
The only false idea is if one will claim that we could make flying an aircraft "100% safe" in every possible situations. Automatisms would make them "safer" in most situations... but not extreme ones.