Speaking of Relaxed Stability...
Just yesterday I talked with a retired aero engineer who had worked on the design of the MD-11 THS. He said its small size was predicated on the assurance (from Honeywell) that the LSAS, Longitudinal Stability Augmentation System, would meet 10 <-9 probability of No Undetected Failure. It didn't, of course, and many MD-11 crashes have been related.
Could the A330 be operating on similar assumptions?