RR NBD,
Normally, I don't like to comment on thing like you pose here, but this time I am going to.
Your Quote: We need to be practical and find a way to solve the issues when they arise.
I have been around this business for a long time as you can see by my age, in fact it was my entire working career. I am not a pilot as I think you are not either. But, I have great respect for pilots, especially those who spent their careers or a part of their careers flying fly-by-wire aircraft and the exact aircraft we have been discussing here for 2 years. Clearly, there are times and this was one of them, where a flight crew has to fly the airplane absent some of the luxuries normally provided by the sophisticated electronic control system currently in place. I haven't heard any A-330 pilot say this can't be done and so therefore, it can be done and has been done. A good experienced flight crew a Captain, a First Officer and an additional First Officer could have and would have dealt with this situation in a successful manner. It comes part and parcel with
training and
experience and
team coordination supported by carrying out the written down recipes for dealing with specific situations like AF447 experienced. Unfortunately, this was the wrong flight crew, in the wrong location, at the wrong time, a flight crew which apparently had only part of the aforementioned attributes.
No amount of additional bell, whistles, electronic devises, etc., will ever make up for a flight crew's absolute necessity and ability to fly the airplane absent some of the electronics. Now there might be some things in the present electronic systems that can be made better, but they will never replace good piloting when the chips are down. Flying the airplane is what this has been all about in my opinion.
Never think that a new invention will substitute for the three attributes listed above as "Murphy's Law" will find a way to prove you wrong. Listen to what the successful pilots have said.