Whilst desitter has previously outed himself as a sceptic of the FBW model of modern aviation, I believe he poses a reasonable question that is undeserving of the gratuitous swipe levelled at him by machaca.
It appears that desitter’s question is framed as a statement (with the possibly offensive “on top of the curve” and “up to snuff with modernity” assertions). Nonetheless, it is a question in my reading, which is: why are so many of the pilots on this forum so vehement in their defense of the FBW computer-controlled flight model?
I, too, would like a reasoned answer to this question. What do the pilots know that the non-pilots do not know/understand.
I am not a sceptic of FBW as desitter appears to be, but, as a designer of computer systems and with three decades experience in the computer/electronics industry designing/testing non-life-dependant systems and a WAIS score of 135, I believe I could understand your explanations should you care to share them.
As SLF, I’d like to know that if/when the computer throws up its metaphorical hands, the pilot in command has the training/experience/skills to take control of the aircraft and fly it in what has often been referred to in this forum as “stick-and-rudder” mode.
I’m interested to know what are the preconditions for such an eventuality (that is, the need for stick-and-rudder flight)? What are the minimum systems/displays required for the pilot to achieve control of the aircraft once the computer has relinquished it to the pilot?
Footnote:
It is a frightening proposition to me – and I suspect many others - that a computer (programmed by a
team of experts in the fields of aviation, software, electronics and control systems) with multiple redundancies inherent in its design can get to a point where its received data from all its sources “does not compute” and
at that point it relinquishes control to two people trained only* as pilots; at which point they are expected to do something with the beast that the computer(s) could not – that is, bring it back under control.
*NB: I have the utmost respect for pilots and their training and I am confident to fly again in the future.
My point is, there are just two of them and they are in a pressure-cooker situation. The team of designers and programmers have between them a breadth of knowledge and expertise that the pilots could never hope to emulate in the midst of a crisis.