JenCluse
Love your post and agree completely. Nice to see that more and more FBW experienced pilots (read this Safety?) admonish the absence of a vitally fundamental in Airbus cockpits.
As to the sidestick discussion:
There is no problem with a sidestick.
After 25 years of J3 stick, MD yokes, even the Bonanza Z-yoke, it took me 15 minutes to get used to the Airbus sidestick, be it with the left or with the right hand. It flies very well, is nicely precise, confirmed by all Airbus pilots.
I'd take a sidestick over a fossil yoke anytime, had it a tactile feedback though ....
What we focus on, is not what kind of a stick it is, or where it's located, but what it does.
Or what it does not and what the consequences are in terms of safety, stubborn denial from the lobby or not.