Centaurus (#1),
Not being a techie, I've never ventured on this turf before: my home ground being Military Avation Forum, "Gaining a R.A.F. Pilot's Brevet in WWII" Thread.
What a wonderful story ! Yet the old "seat of the pants" method still has its uses. I did my first 60 hours on the "Arnold Scheme" with the US Army Air Corps in Florida. The ASIs had been taken out of our Stearman (back) cockpits. We were taught to fly by feel and Attitude alone. As most of us had never been off the ground in our young lives, we felt no pain. Did any other Air Forces do this ? Does the USAF do it now ? Never occurred to me to ask, will do so on "Pilot's Brevet" shortly.
On that Thread, read Padhist's: "RAE Bedford. Blind Landing Experimental Unit" (Page 113, #2258).* It ties in nicely with your story of what the human pilot can do (at its very best).
Yet the old idea often came to my aid in Monsoon cu-nims in Burma ! And it is arguable that it might have saved AF447. As I see it, each of the three pilots was quite capable of flying the thing out of trouble if they'd only ignored the Flight instruments on the panel and simply "flown Attitude", as I had to at Carlstrom Field all those years ago. But none even thought of doing so - they'd been brain-washed into being no more than simple Systems Managers.
Note * above: my weary tale starts Page 114, #2262 (advt.)