@Cool Guys - Correct, but I'd say a decade of development and testing (from the Concorde "minimanche" experiments in the mid-'70s onwards) constitutes a very rigorous evaluation process, even by aviation standards.
26 years since the A320 went into service and the number of hull-losses attributable to the FBW system and the flight deck design on all Airbus FBW types remains at zero. The Airbus FBW types have a safety record that compares very respectably with other types and thousands of the things fly daily.
So I'd say that the worst fears of the more reactionary "experienced" pilots back when the A320 was launched haven't come to pass, and on this occasion they were wrong about a lot of things.
Last edited by DozyWannabe; 13th Aug 2014 at 16:36.