I feel that Doze does not get my point. But in his defense....
- automated flight path systems were there when I first flew an interceptor in 1966. We had "coupled" approaches, climb gradient, course, even attack steering, et al. The F-106 was even more integrated than my VooDoo. Using datalink from the ground, the sucker would fly the jet to a bandit location so the pilot could lock on and shoot.
- the VooDoo had AoA and gee limiters just like I saw 13 years later. Also had a pneumatic bellows doofer that kept us from pulling too hard on the stick according to dynamic pressure ( basically CAS).
- VooDoo had a pusher that activated according to both pitch rate and AoA.
OTOH:
- The problem with the engineers designing and implementing FBW was trying too hard to "protect" the pilots.
- You really have to look at the FBW implementation and then fly a plane using it to completely understand some of my views.
The so-called "direct law" would not be easy to fly, and not hard at all for a really good pilot. After all, we have not had a lotta cables, pulleys, pushrods and such connecting the yoke or stick to the control surfaces since the late 50's. Springs and maybe active feedback stuff for the stick/yoke would help a lot, and they are available now! Some online flight sims even have force feedback sticks to represent WW2 aircraft forces.
- the Viper had many "protections", but many were intended to represent what all the pilots were used to in terms of rates and gee/stick force and so forth. So our pitch and roll rates were "limited" ( most here know I detest the term "protections"). Our gee and AoA were also limited according to a basic function that allowed 9 gees until 15 degrees AoA, then decreasing to 1 gee at 27 degrees AoA. We had no absolute pitch or roll limits such as the 'bus. Was the nature of our mission, duhhhh.
What got our attention after a few crashes was an idea from the engineers to use our system to pull up according to HAL's idea of imminent ground impact. NO WAY!! The consensus amongst us was to allow us to die if we screwed up!!! Put up the big, flashing "X" in the HUD and have bitching Betty yell at us, but that's all. Same as that Russian jet in Malaysia or Indonesia, when the pilot turned off the ground clearance alert system, but sadly took a lotta SLF with him into the cliff. Don't like being brutal, but that comes from my decades flying a different mission than the commercial folks.
My bottom line goes with PJ's. Fly the jet as much as company policy allows you without getting fired. The "engage otto at 300 feet and disengage for last two miles on final" attitude or procedure deeply disturbs me.