But his "location" applies to him no matter which thread he posts in. I seriously doubt he's making light of AF447.
By flying on instincts, do some of you mean "flying based on trained and learned habit patterns and experiences?"
I am not sure how you mean "instinct" in this sense, which is why I am asking.
For Machaca:
Be assured -- they are.
"They are" based on
what assumptions?
This may be a dated reference (mid 1990's) but there was an aircrew in Japan whose Captain had the plane not respond to his control inputs. That crash would not reassure me, but I've flown on commercial air transport since, so my risk assessment is that such bugs are not frequent enough to stop me from traveling. (The industry itself, on the other hand ... )
Granted, there has been ample opportunity since then to mitigate some of the bugs in the system, with the sytsem being the human/machine interface.
The various incidents where oddball AP inputs, and uncommanded control inputs, force the pilots to overcome the robot are reassuring only in that it demonstrates how important the Human element is in the human/machine interface. As with non-FBW aircraft, "how well do you know your aircraft" is a question pilots confront daily.