There are some interace features in modern FBW aircraft still like in the ages before.
- the gearhandle is formed like a little wheel, to put the gear down you have to put that little wheel in the down position
-the flaphandle, formed like a little flap
- the speed brakes formed like a little handbrake lever
- the throttles, formed like little engines
- the trim wheel, formed like in former times when you turned mechanical cables and pulleys with this wheel
Those switches (they are nothing else in these days) are neither cheap (a pushbutton or toggle switch would be cheaper) nor ergonomic (They use a lot of space), but they tell you something when you grab them: You got the right one mate!
OC
Some are advocating that the side stick was a factor in the accident because it was unobservable for example. But there are examples of where an accident has happened despite the yoke position being visible. We have to be careful in advocating a solution as a pancea to an issue.
@ OC: Despite this fact, gear, flaps, speedbrakes and trim has been mishandeled by young and old, expierienced and less expierienced pilots. Would that fact prove, that this feedback is not necessary and we should change to simple and cheaper pushbuttons or into a command line in some display?
'When all else fails, it is the people flying whose job it is to prevent accidents. Sometimes they fail too.'
Exactly this is what I have been saying all along.
I would like to rephrase a bit:
The industry (manufacturer, operator, crew) has to plan, design and train for situations, when all else failses, that the people flying are most probably able to prevent accidents. That needs an interface and training not only optimized for costs and normal operations, but also for the worst case of the life.
I therefore follow this discussion (and take part a bit) about possible factors influencing the outcome of this tragic accident with great interest, not to blame the aircraft or to absolve the crew, but in the hope, that the industry will learn its lesson in order to minimize future events with similar causes.
With the attitude "the machine behaved like it was designed......." we can shorten any accident investigation big time. In the end its always the pilot.