I think most of us on this thread are in agreement with each other, but have different ways of trying to express it.
Stilton, you need to fly an Airbus FBW before making such comments. Once you have experience on it, a FBW Airbus is very easy to fly - it just needs a different technique, and an appreciation of what the FBW system is doing for you. This is something that is very poorly trained, in my experience - like most of us I was just told treat the sidestick as a dockers c**k and all those sort of comments, which are extremely unhelpful and give you no information to help you fly it properly.
Here's how I fly it: I let the FBW do the flying, and, if it's not coupled to any Nav source, (FCU,FMGS,ILS), then every so often, if the atmosphere has disturbed the flight path; I gently nudge it back to where I want it to go. I hold the side stick properly and make a series of short duration, short travel 'nudges' and back to neutral each time and look at the result. I don't hold a deflection until the attitude is where I want it because then it will over shoot and I will have to bring it back = PIO. I make a 'nudge' in the direction I want and back to neutral and see what the result is. If it was not enough, I make another 'nudge', etc. If I am flying straight and level and then I want to change the attitude by a greater amount, such as a roll into a turn, I hold the stick at maybe half deflection and release it to neutral as the aircraft approaches the attitude I want, then correct if necessary by small nudges.
Effectively what you are telling the FBW is where to hold the attitude. If it is holding a roll attitude a bit too far right, then nudge left a couple of times to 'step' the attitude across to where you want it. The FBW will reset it's 'datum' and then hold the new attitude, until a strong gust or you move it again. If you are flying through very strong turbulence, don't worry if you need to put in full deflections - you won't break anything - but only hold full deflection for a few seconds* and then go back to neutral. If you find yourself making constant inputs and alternately going from one deflection to it's opposite sense, then you are fighting the FBW. Let it do most of the work and just concentrate on guiding it.
It may still sound weird, but it is much easier to experience than explain.
* NOTE: for Windshear or GPWS - hold the stick back until clear.
Last edited by Uplinker; 11th Feb 2013 at 14:17.