Sorry Uplinker, but your statement is partially inaccurate. I believe the AF447 pilots also would have made the same statement which I believe is the ultimate flaw in Airbus by design. In NORMAL law there is no need to trim out the control forces, however when in direct law then yes you do need to trim out the forces and not only that but there is no force on the stick! So you have to trim the aircraft with absolutely no feedback from the stick! As an Airbus pilot I would never just consider what is accurate when the aircraft is in normal law but I must consider Alt with prot and Alt without plus direct law. 4 different logics (which totally confuses people even to this day - and quite rightly as it's ridiculously over complicated).
"The airbus will keep the attitude you command, even through turbulence". Erm, no it wont! It will command 1g. If the pitch changes, it will still command 1g, so no that is a factually incorrect statement. Take your hand off the stick on approach, yes it can be very impressive and hold the attitude for all of 10 / 15 seconds on an ABSOLUTELY clear day. However add any variance (which as you know is always there) and you have to make an input. Large or small, its an input. I agree, it does reduce the control inputs required but to say the aircraft will keep the attitude you command is simply not true (which you allude to by saying FULL stick may be required in strong crosswinds etc).
Your statement re modifying your scan to include the engine instruments is (yes, in my opinion) another flaw with the Airbus design. WHY remove something which you can monitor easily. No, it's not difficult, however what is the point? What is the purpose? You could make it easier and arguably improve pilot SA by having moving thrust levers - there is no argument that pilot SA is improved by removing moving thrust levers! In fact I believe the original Airbus idea was to have absolutely no thrust levers at all and have buttons instead!
I still fly the Airbus and I enjoy it. I agree, it is a wonderful machine. I do also feel however that Airbus have tried to oversimplify being a pilot by removing things that were actually quite useful (moving thrust levers, linked moving sidesticks).
Last edited by wheelie my boeing; 22nd May 2012 at 18:42.