I'm beginning to wonder if the three AF447 pilots were regular PPRuNe posters. The extent to which this forum manages to complicate simple matters and completely miss the essential points borders on the hilarious. I suspect that observers (media, authorities, whoever) will eventually (if not already) come to regard PPRuNe as nothing more than an easy source of amusement, rather than a worthwhile platform for meaningful debate.
To clarify my criticism of sidesticks (by now located underneath three pages of waffle):
(1) - You might be able to see the other pilot's sidestick. You might be able to see that he's holding it. But can you see, without referring to tiny annunciators, what input he's making?
(2) - The comments regarding current annunciations and the proposals to introduce additional ones miss the point, which is that too subtle an indication of pilot control input is unacceptable.
(3) Two coupled yokes, in clear view, with visible, physical input movements (as opposed to 'motionless' pressure inputs to transducers) presents clear, immediate and unmistakable information.
AF447 would not have ended in disaster had such control yokes been installed. That conclusion applies, despite the unbelievable lack of competence displayed by all three 'pilots'.