The lack of statistical evidence does not mean that someone cannot not have a valuable contribution or opinion.

The less statistical evidence there is, the more value the opinions of experienced professionals becomes.

Experience in the subject, as well as statistical evidence, contributes to understanding and decisions made in the subject being discussed.

I don't believe I was inferring otherwise in any way - it was a while ago, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't saying that.

Sure - however this thread definitely unearthed some examples of how the use and purpose of technology on the flight deck has been misinterpreted, and that those misunderstandings have become an accepted part of piloting lore.

Same with other threads - I recently read a post claiming that FBW was primarily intended to replace the flight engineer with technology, when in fact there were several jetliners from the '60s onwards that were well pre-FBW, yet deleted the FE station from the flight deck.

I know there's a romantic attachment to the days of yore, and that's not just true of piloting - but I suspect that were one to offer E.K. Gann and his contemporaries a control system that worked incredibly reliably, and also helped them stay out of the brown stuff by working against stalls and spiral dives, they'd have been rather thankful on those nights when the weather and visibility were against them!

...and the there's the Embraer. The pitch and rudder control is pretty good. It feels very conventional and compensates for flap and thrust changes so well that you don't feel it. It appears to have a conventional elevator trim and it too works well. The then there's the :mad: ailerons. Complete and utter sh!te. Allegedly these are not "fly-by-wire" but are just cable actuated (fly-by-wire?). But their loading is purely synthetic and done by wacking great springs. And this is poorly designed because the spring feedback unit appears only provides a single load, no matter what the displacement is. There is also no "fight back" from the ailerons. I also reckon a different person designed the loading on the ailerons resulting in the controls feeling totally un-harmonised. So the thing is difficult and un-pleasant to fly in a gusty cross-wind - but it could be so much easier. Or there again, that's my excuse!

What is a thread like this doing in Techlog? Move to Questions or Spotters corner....