Computer philosophy in the crash of the Airbus A330

In recent days, experts agree that the most likely cause of the Airbus A330 crash (flight 447, wreckage which was hardly found near Brazil) was a computer failure in the aircraft control system, which resulted in contradictions between the readings of various computer sensors.

But there is one interesting point.

Modern-generation passenger airliners (including the Airbus A330) are equipped with the Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) computer system. It transmits information about flight parameters (altitude, wind speed, etc.) to instruments in the pilot’s cockpit, as well as to autopilot. But in this case, the aircraft pilots did not have a single chance. Even watching how the automatics "went off the roof", they could not take control. In the Airbus aircraft (unlike the "Boeing"), this feature is disabled. In critical situations, a person can not take control from the computer.
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The difference in approaches — the primacy of a computer or a person — is called the philosophical difference between Boeing and Airbus . So far, the statistics of accidents are about the same, so that designers can not make a final choice in one way or another. However, pilots hate Airbus with fierce hatred, a lot of evidence of this can be found in their forums. Pilots can be understood because it is difficult to feel like a guest at the helm of an airplane (only Boeing has a steering wheel, and a small joystick on Airbus).

via InformationWeek