What if...
What if the Egypt 767 would have been an A330? Who would have had control? What would the outcome have been??
It is obvious in AF447, having the yoke in his lap for 3 minutes would have given the PNF and the Captain (when he came back to the cockpit) a visual clue as to what was going on. Instead, after not really knowing what Bonin was doing for three minutes, Bonin finally told the rest of the crew he'd had the stick full back for a while and the realization they were stalled hit the Captain like a ton of bricks. What if, when he walked in, he saw the yoke in the laps of both pilots?? Quite a different outcome I'd bet.
I mean come on...you walk into a cockpit of an airliner that should be at 35K+ feet and you see the yolk in the laps of the pilots? You would instantly know something was very wrong. If I am wrong, please let me know when a pilot would have the control stick full back in cruise flight at 35K+ feet...
What amazes me about the BEA report is this very important point wasn't even discussed and sure wasn't made a point of failure in the cockpit CRM. To me, that smells of collusion between the BEA and Airbus. Many pilots on this forum agree it is a problem but BEA glossed right over it. Boeing felt it was important enough to justify the added weight and complexity and I agree with them.
Why would you intentionally leave a hole in the cheese?? Save a little weight, make the cockpits common?? Doesn't sound like a good enough reason to me.